The Body Shop France: The Paris trade court placed The Body Shop France in receivership on Thursday, April 4, according to BFM Business’s reporting. Since being acquired by the German investment fund Aurelius at the end of 2023, the British cosmetics company has been dealing with persistent troubles. Because of this, on March 19, The Body Shop requested a payment suspension in France. At a crossroads, the company’s 260 French workers and 59 company-owned outlets and 7 franchised ones find themselves.

The Body Shop France has been given six months by a Paris court to come up with and implement a plan to turn things around. Following trends in its home market of the United Kingdom, where 80 out of 200 stores are set to close, such a plan might involve reorganizing its retail network. However, similar to what happened in Belgium, judicial liquidation could be on the horizon for The Body Shop France.

As part of its efforts to reinvigorate the company, Aurelius announced in January that it intends to quit twelve markets in Asia and Europe. The future of the brand in France is dubious as a result of this strategic maneuver, which caused bankruptcies in other nations. The temporary shutdown of the retailer’s online store has only served to worsen the already steep drop in business in its French locations.

Despite a minor recovery in deliveries to French stores, BFM Business reports that stock replenishments have been restricted to less than 20 stores, indicating that operational issues are still present.

Notable among these transactions was the December 2023 acquisition of The Body Shop by Aurelius from the Brazilian cosmetics business Natura & Co. for GBP207 million (€237 million). Importantly, as disclosed in the leak, Natura & Co. had originally demanded GBP500 million, so this purchase price was much lower. It should be remembered that in 2017, the L’Oréal company sold The Body Shop to Natura & Co. for a sum of GBP880 million.