The Body Shop France looking for buyer

The Body Shop’s French subsidiary was placed into receivership by the Paris court on April 4, and is now looking for a buyer. Interested parties have until June 3 to put forward their bids.

Still struggling after being bought by German investment fund Aurelius at the end of 2023, the British cosmetics retailer filed for suspension of payments in France on March 19. According to the announcement published by the court-appointed receivers, The Body Shop operates 51 stores in France, of which 13 in the Paris region and 38 elsewhere in the country, as well as six franchised stores. Industry magazine LSA reported that the latter have joined forces and are likely to sue the master franchisor for breach of contract.

In 2022, The Body Shop France recorded a revenue of €27 million, and its forecast for 2023 was €24 million. The company has 259 employees. It is worth reminding that the court granted The Body Shop a six-month monitoring period to implement a turnaround plan.

At the end of January, Aurelius stated that, in order to steady the ship, it would reduce The Body Shop’s retail footprint in certain markets, and exit others, notably in Europe and Asia. In the UK domestic market for example, where the company is in administration, The Body Shop is in the process of closing 80 of its approximately 200 stores. The situation is similar in Canada, where the cosmetics chain has closed some stores and is mulling the company’s sale, while in Belgium, The Body Shop has closed down completely.

In December 2023, Brazilian cosmetics group Natura & Co. sold The Body Shop to Aurelius for GBP207 million (€237 million). An amount that was significantly lower than the Brazilian group’s initial demand which, according to information leaked to the press, was GBP500 million. In 2017, Natura & Co. bought The Body Shop from the L’Oréal group for GBP880 million.