20 March 2009 - Further to the Montpellier court's decision last month to cancel Les Eaux d'Alet's licence to build a new bottling plant in Alet-les-Bains, the local municipality of Alet-les-Bains has decided to appeal.
The Montpellier court cancelled the licenece on 24 February 2009 after having decided that the facility was to near 17 historical monuments.
The maire of Alet-les-Bains, Jean-Denis Alandry, will urge a court in Marseille to review the appeal case.
In the meantime, Les Eaux d'Alet is studying another location for its plant. The company's chairman, Olivier Sadran, is understood to be considering the nearby town of Limoux as a possible new location.
Company president Olivier Sadran acquired Les Eaux d’Alet from local dairy products manufacturer 3A in 2005 for an undisclosed sum.
Since 2005, the company has been injecting between 500,000 and 700,000 euro in marketing, communication and various partnerships, which helped to put the firm back on track after it had been struggling during its previous ownership. Sadran, also president of the Toulouse Football Club, developed a partnership between the club and the 120-year-old-mineral water brand.
The company also jumped on the 2007 Rugby World Cup bandwagon by putting 75cl oval bottles on the market. It also launched 95cl PET football-shaped bottles for the European soccer championships in May 2008.
Les Eaux d’Alet sold about 12 million bottles in 2007. The company enjoys an established presence in the Midi-Pyrénées region as well as in neighbouring Languedoc-Roussillon. However, the firm is also developing in the Aquitaine region, and to a lesser extent in Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur and in Charentes. In foreign markets, the company has occasional contracts with customers in Sweden and even in the Caribbean Islands.