Brazilian beauty conglomerate Natura & Co is considering a sale of The Body Shop after the skincare and cosmetics line saw another quarter of declining sales, according to a securities filing.

The filing said, “[Nature & Co] recently authorised its management to explore strategic alternatives for The Body Shop.” Those alternatives include a “potential sale” of the business, according to the document. 

Since the filing, Natura & Co has entered into exclusive discussions with the private investor Aurelius Group regarding the prospective sale of The Body Shop. While the exact terms of the deal are yet to be finalised, expectations are that the sale will value The Body Shop at an amount lower than the £400 million – £500 million range.

According to the filing, “there can be no assurance that this process will result in any transaction. Natura does not intend to comment on or provide updates regarding this matter unless and until it determines that further disclosure is appropriate or required.”

On August 15^th, the company announced second-quarter results and said sales at The Body Shop fell 12 percent to 800 million Brazilian reals, or US $163.7 million. The Body Shop has struggled to hang on to its market share and meet customers where they are after consumer habits shifted during the Covid pandemic, executives said during an August earnings call. 

The very first The Body Shop® store opens on 26th March 1976 in Brighton, on the south coast of England. In 1989, The Body Shop launched in New Zealand, before it was acquired by Natura & Co in 2017.

The Body Shop’s potential sale follows Natura & Co’s recent sale of Australian luxury brand Aēsop to L’Oréal , in a monumental deal valued at $3.7 billion (US $2.5 billion).

Main image: Westfield NZ