The British division of the cosmetics company will undertake the adjustment over the coming weeks, adding to the reduction of 300 job positions at the company’s headquarters in London.
The Body Shop continues to make cuts. The British division of the cosmetics company will close 75 stores over the next six weeks, resulting in the layoff of 489 people, as informed by the insolvency practitioners from FRP Advisory, who are in charge of restructuring the operations in the UK.
Thus, taking into account the 300 positions that will be eliminated at the central headquarters in London, nearly 800 people will lose their jobs. However, the administrators have emphasized that 116 establishments will continue to operate as normal.
“By taking swift action to resize The Body Shop’s UK store portfolio, we have stabilized the business and are providing the best opportunity for this iconic brand to have a sustainable future in the long term,” said joint administrator, Tony Wright.
At the time of the official acquisition by the German private equity firm Aurelius in November 2023, The Body Shop employed about 7,000 people across 89 markets, with 900 stores directly operated and another 1,600 through franchises. Of those, 2,200 people were on the payroll in Britain.
Furthermore, The Body Shop’s divisions in Belgium, where it has 16 stores and 50 employees, and Denmark have reportedly filed for bankruptcy. In this regard, it is expected that the Irish business will also go into liquidation next week, while the German division is already under insolvency administration.
The Body Shop was founded in the UK in 1976 by environmental activist Anita Roddick and her husband, Gordon Roddick. The company remained under their ownership for three decades until it was sold in 2006. Roddick’s decision to sell the business to the French corporation L’Oréal for £652 million drew criticism from those who saw it as a deviation from the company’s values.
According to the latest data, in the second quarter of the fiscal year 2023, The Body Shop’s revenue decreased by 12% to 800 million reais (£152 million), with a pre-tax profit of 23.3 million reais (about £4 million). In the first half of the year (ending in June), the chain’s revenue contracted by 15%.
