Stores not as busy as hoped
The Body Shop issued a profit warning today, following a slower than expected Christmas period.

Like-for-like sales rose 3 per cent in the 10 weeks to December 31 and retail sales were up 6 per cent during the period.

The group forecasts that annual operating profit will be level with or slightly ahead of last year.

In the UK and Republic of Ireland, like-for-like sales were up 1 per cent. The group said this result was achieved 'despite a challenging environment and some localised decrease in customer traffic'.

Numis analyst Steve Davies added: 'The problem in the UK seems to be over-exuberant forecasting rather than a poor performance. Like-for-like growth of 1 per cent is pretty good going in the current market, but the company had budgeted for more.'

The group said its US arm had underperformed over Christmas as comparable store sales plummeted by 4 per cent.

In Asia Pacific region, Hong Kong and Singapore both achieved sales growth of 11 per cent over the 10 weeks. Japan was up 10 per cent and Korea was up 11 per cent. Comparable store sales in Australia fell 1 per cent.

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