The company was founded in 1969 by Patrick Alès, a hairdresser who invented the technique of blow-drying in 1964, after his own salon had gone bankrupt. It began operating under the name Phytosolba Laboratories, supported by a loan from
Jacques Dessange, producing and selling plant-based hair treatments (
phytotherapy) in pharmacies under the brand Phyto. created four years earlier. In 1983, Phytosolba Laboratories acquired the Laboratoires de médecine végétale. The group:s international expansion began in the early 1990s, accelerating its growth. On 15 October 1996, the Ales group was renamed Phyto-Lierac and went public on the Second Market of the
Paris Stock Exchange. At that time, revenue came primarily from high-end hair products (57%, under the Phytosolba brand, later renamed Phyto) and dermocosmetic products (41%, under the Lierac brand sold in pharmacies). In 1997, the group purchased the Ducastel laboratory, which generated 31 million francs in revenue from professional hair-coloring products. According to
La Tribune, the purchase price was between 40 and 95 million francs. After repaying its convertible bonds in January 2004, Phyto-Lierac, by then renamed Ales Groupe, launched a capital increase of €19.4 million. While exports represented only 30% of revenue in 1996, they accounted for 50% in 2004. In 2008, Patrick Alès stepped down from the group's operational management. In the early 2010s, Ales Groupe underwent several management reshuffles. In 2012, the company reported "the first losses in its history". In February 2018, Ales Groupe was in a difficult financial situation, and Patrick Alès, chairman of the supervisory board, was replaced by his son Romain Alès. On 18 October 2018, Ales Groupe sold Parfums Caron for just under 30 million euros. In May 2019, Avila, the holding company of Ales Groupe, carried out a capital increase of 20 million euros subscribed by a new investor, Co-Capital, already an international distribution partner of the group. Co-Capital held 40% of Avila, with the founding family holding the rest. At the end of the same month, founder Patrick Alès died. and the amount of callable debt reached 90 million euros. On 29 June 2020, trading of Ales Groupe shares on
Euronext Growth was suspended. In summer 2020, the company - heavily loss-making despite the capital gain from the sale of
Parfums Caron - entered receivership. The
COVID-19 pandemic caused a halt in distribution across
Europe and the
United States, precipitating the collapse of the group already weakened for years. On 24 September 2020, the commercial court approved the sale of the cosmetics division (70% of group activity) to the holding
Impala of
Jacques Veyrat for 13.5 million euros. The haircare division was taken over by its managers. == References ==