New Body Shop proprietor to name in directors for UK chain

The new homeowners of The Body Shop are lining up directors for its British arm simply weeks after taking management of the cosmetics retailer, in a transfer which might threaten vital numbers of outlets and jobs.

Sky News has learnt that the corporate based by Anita Roddick and her husband Gordon almost half a century in the past is making ready to nominate FRP Advisory to deal with an insolvency course of for its UK operation, which trades from round 200 shops.

City sources stated on Friday that the directors have been in the end more likely to think about closing a major chunk of The Body Shop’s UK shops, though they harassed that it was untimely to invest on particular numbers.

The Body Shop employs a lot of folks in Britain, together with at its head workplace in London.

The administration course of for its UK operations won’t affect the model’s international franchise companions, in line with one insider.

In latest days, The Body Shop’s companies throughout most of Europe and elements of Asia have been offered to an unnamed household workplace.

The retailer advised RetailWeek, which first reported the worldwide transaction, that it “further prioritises The Body Shop’s strategically important markets and global head franchise partner relationships, which it will look for opportunities to build”.

“The Body Shop will also focus on more effectively reaching customers by strengthening digital platforms, developing new sales channels, and via differentiated retail experiences,” it added.

“The introduced sale is one other decisive step in direction of delivering a robust turnaround technique for The Body Shop, supported by the proper construction.

“The ambition is to create a modern and dynamic beauty brand, relevant to customers and able to compete for the long term.”

The Body Shop was acquired in November by Aurelius, a personal fairness agency, in a deal it stated was valued at £207m.

Retail sources stated that after the deal closed in the beginning of this yr, the brand new proprietor concluded that the corporate had inadequate working capital and was buying and selling extra weakly than it had anticipated.

The firm has already determined to shut its Body Shop at Home division, which was struggling financially, whereas a report this week stated that Natura, its earlier proprietor.

The insolvency course of within the UK might permit a slimmer, extra financially viable enterprise to emerge after its struggles beneath a succession of company homeowners.

Aurelius was stated to have seen off competitors to purchase The Body Shop from rival bidders together with Alteri Investors, non-public fairness agency Epiris and Elliott Advisors, the proprietor of bookseller Waterstones.

At the time of the acquisition, The Body Shop employed about 10,000 folks, and operates roughly 3,000 shops in 70 nations.

Although it has struggled for worthwhile progress for years, it retains a distinguished presence on British excessive streets.

The Roddicks have been distinguished champions of environmental causes, a positioning which helped it acquire an edge over rival retailers throughout the Nineteen Eighties and ’90s.

Its opposition to the animal testing of cosmetics was additionally uncommon within the a long time instantly after it was based.

Its distinctiveness has, nonetheless, been diminished in recent times by the emergence of rivals which have additionally put sustainability on the coronary heart of their companies whereas extra successfully focusing on youthful shoppers.

Dame Anita died in 2007.

Natura was reported to have paid greater than $1bn to purchase The Body Shop in 2017.

It was owned by L’Oreal, the cosmetics large, previous to its sale to Natura.

Aurelius and The Body Shop declined to remark.