Letdown for Midlands group

A director at Zappia & Zappia, which claimed to be the largest design group in the Midlands after acquiring Levells Design in July 1996, has admitted that the acquisition has been disappointing.

The consultancy made three redundancies: two designers, Sam Golding and Tony Lorton, and Steve Jones, late last year. “I don’t think it worked as well as it could have,” says director Nino Zappia of the buy-out.

Zappia adds that the redundancies were due to “a lack of client spending”, rather than directly attributable to the acquisition. But sources close to the company blame the deal for weakening Zappia & Zappia’s position. No further redundancies are expected.

After the acquisition, Levells staff moved into Zappia & Zappia’s Stourbridge premises and Levells director Mark Levell became a director of Zappia & Zappia.