Body Shop encouraged by sales rally
Cosmetics retailer Body Shop today said a 5% hike in underlying sales in the UK over Christmas would help it beat expectations for annual profits.
Despite the positive performance over Christmas, the Body Shop said like-for-like sales in the UK and Ireland were down 1% in the year to date.
The UK and Ireland account for a quarter of all sales, with the remainder split between its three other divisions of Asia Pacific, the Americas, and Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The group, which has more than 2,000 stores worldwide, said the sales success proved it had been right to stage a relaunch of its brand, including a new logo and a “Made With Passion” catchline.
The festive sales growth demonstrated “the continuing positive trend for the UK region”, helping to erase memories of last Christmas when same-store sales slumped 16%.
Like-for-like sales across all its global operations were up 3% during the 10 weeks to New Year’s Day and total sales up 6%, although these were also against weak comparatives last year.
As part of a major overhaul, around £100m (€142.8m) has been spent on updating its stores and systems, which helped the group to manage stock levels and ensure the availability of popular ranges over Christmas.
Seasonal ranges proved popular including Cranberry body butter and shower gel, while the Body Shop offered gifts with purchases rather than cutting prices.
The group added that it was continuing to win business through its “Love Your Body” customer loyalty card, but declined to say how many cardholders there were in the UK.
Chief executive Peter Saunders said: “Our repositioning of the brand continues to progress, and we expect to deliver another year of good performance, marginally ahead of market expectations.”
Prior to today’s trading update, analysts had expected the Body Shop to report pre-tax profits before goodwill amortisation of £35.3m (€50.4m) for the year to February 26.
Asia Pacific was the Body Shop's strongest region over Christmas, delivering growth of 5% on an underlying basis. This was in contrast to the Americas where same-store sales dropped 1%.
It added that its Body Shop at Home operation, which allows customers to stage cosmetic parties in their own homes with a consultant, improved sales by 28%.
