It had its roots more than 30 years ago in a tiny shop. But last night, after riding the boom in hairdressing and beauty, seven staff were celebrating becoming overnight millionaires after their company was sold for £30m.
Salon Services, one of the UK's biggest beauty products wholesalers with a turnover last year of £54m, has been bought by the US firm Sally Beauty.
The company was set up on Bridge Street, Glasgow, by Gerry Hegarty, chairman and largest shareholder.
He said: "Our first premises were tiny. We only had a limited range of stock. But from the day we started we have never looked back. I was very keen in the early days for staff to have shares in the company and it brought a different work ethic."
Last night, seven of those staff were millionaires after cashing in the share options they took up with the firm years ago. The company declined to reveal the identities of the seven millionaires.
However, according to Salon Services' filing with Companies House last year, the number of shares issued in the company stood at 5000.
Mr Hegarty is recorded as having 1544 shares, which would have seen him walk away with more than £9m from the deal. The next biggest shareholder is Maureen Hegarty, with 838 shares which would have seen her reap more than £5m.
The third biggest is listed as JC Macdonough with 556 shares (£3.3m). The others include Alistair Nicholson, a sales executive, who held 441 shares which would have seen him receive more than £2.5m. Robin Diamond, another sales executive, had 365 shares which would have been worth just over £2m. The others' identities are not known.
Mr Hegarty, 66, said: "When I walked out the door on Friday, I left behind seven millionaires. In a week where there had been job fears, like at Weir's, the best thing is there will be no jobs lost or changes and I am leaving behind a good business with great people."
He now plans to focus his attentions on other interests.
Salon Services, which received a special accolade in the 2006 Ernst & Young Scottish Entrepreneur of the Year awards, has more than 600 workers.
It has more than a dozen branches throughout Glasgow and the west of Scotland and some 80 company-owned and franchised locations throughout Europe. In addition to them, it also had a mail order catalogue offering more than 9000 products.
Each of the firm's cash-and- carries, a mix of owned branches and franchises, has more than 4000 product lines, ranging from portable beauty couches for mobile therapists to hair-removal wax.
In 2004, Brian Aitken, finance director, reported that a dramatic growth in profitability had been helped by the "phenomenal" success of new ceramic hair straighteners.
New owner Sally Beauty, which has its headquarters in Texas, is an international specialty retailer and distributor of professional beauty supplies with revenues of more than $2bn annually. The US company already has branches in Union Street and Shawlands in Glasgow.
Worldwide, Sally Beauty has around 3300 stores, including 170 franchised units throughout America, the UK, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Japan, Ireland and Germany.
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