Natura mulls The Body Shop sale months after Aesop

Natura &Co has said it is considering a sale of The Body Shop just months after it sold Aesop to L’Oréal in a 2.5 billion dollar deal.

In a regulatory filing, the Brazilian company reported that its board of directors had authorised its management to explore “strategic alternatives” for the cosmetics retailer, which “may include a potential sale of this business”.

It noted that there could be no guarantee that the process would result in any transaction.

Nature &Co snapped up The Body Shop in a 1.1 billion dollar acquisition in 2017, after its former owner, notably L’Oréal, was unsuccessful in helping the business thrive.

At the time, the L’Oreal chairman and chief executive, Jean-Paul Agon told the BBC that Natura was “the best new owner we could imagine to nurture the brand DNA around naturality and ethics”.

Such efforts had appeared to pay off until recently. In its latest financial report for the second quarter of fiscal year 2023, Natura reported a 12.5 percent drop in The Body Shop’s net revenue, with the retailer’s core business distribution channels, its ‘at Home’ concept and retail sales each taking a hit.

In addition, CEO David Philip Boynton also stepped down from his position in April, and was replaced by Ian Martin Bickley, who took on the role in an interim capacity.

Bickley had been tasked with aiding The Body Shop in the road to profitability, cash conversion recovery and a return to sustainable revenue.