The Body Shop’s parent company L’Oreal is considering a sale of the retailer following falling sales and profits.
L’Oreal said in its full-year results that it had “decided to explore all strategic options” for the business in order “to give it the best opportunities and full ability to continue its development”.
The ethical retailer recorded a 38% slump in profits to €33.8m (£28.7m) in the year to December 31.
Overall sales during the period sank 4.8% to €920.8m (£783.5m), driven by 6.3% drop in sales to €321.3m (£273.3m) during the retailer’s fourth quarter.
Over the year, The Body Shop’s like-for-like sales edged up 0.6%, which L’Oréal attributed to a strong sales momentum in Europe and particularly the UK, where the retailer appointed Linda Campbell as its new managing director last month.
However, the beauty giant said “the difficult content in Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong” is “continuing to impact overall performance.”
L’Oréal’s group sales were up 2.3% overall to €25.8bn (£21.9bn) and up 4.7% on a like-for-like basis.
The group, which acquired The Body Shop in 2006, said that “no decision has been taken so far” regarding a possible sale of the business.
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