The Body Shop has officially entered administration today (Tuesday, February 13) with hundreds of stores and jobs now at risk.
FRP Advisory has been brought in to handle an insolvency process just weeks since the new owners took control of the cosmetics retailer.
In a statement, The Body Shop said: "Today, the Directors of The Body Shop International Limited have appointed Tony Wright, Geoff Rowley, and Alastair Massey of business advisory firm FRP as Joint Administrators of the company, which operates The Body Shop's UK business.
"Taking this approach provides the stability, flexibility and security to find the best means of securing the future of The Body Shop and revitalizing this iconic British brand.
Heartbroken at the demise of The Body Shop, for its body butters, make up range, ethical value system, solidarity with communities across the world who grow the ingredients. I have been shopping continuously at The Body Shop since the 1970’s. I am bereft😳. Thank you Anita… pic.twitter.com/ho1sS7ZJwc
— Adjoa Andoh (@andoh_adjoa) February 12, 2024
"The Joint Administrators will now consider all options to find a way forward for the business and will update creditors and employees in due course."
According to the latest company accounts, The Body Shop had 2,568 staff in the UK of which 927 were in administrative roles and 1,641 were store staff in 2022, as reported by Sky News.
The retailer has around 200 stores located across the UK.
The Body Shop enters administration just weeks after new owners arrived
The Body Shop was acquired in November by private equity firm Aurelius in a deal it said was valued at £207m.
Aurelius agreed a deal late last month to sell the company’s operations in most of mainland Europe and in parts of Asia to an international family office in a “decisive step towards delivering a strong turnaround strategy” at The Body Shop.
Recommended reading:
- Argos and Costa among high street closures in 2024: full list
- New B&M stores opening in January and February - the full list
- Boots to close dozen of stores in 2024- See the full list
Although The Body Shop struggled with profitable growth for years, it remains a recognisable presence on British high streets.
It was founded in 1976 by Dame Anita Roddick and her husband Gordon, championing environmental causes and opposing animal testing.
It was owned by L'Oreal between 2006 and 2017 before being sold to Brazilian cosmetics group Natura.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel