Christmas brought no pleasant surprises for Body Shop International, which suffered poor sales in most of its markets over the key festive trading season.
In the 10 weeks to January 4, the retailer reported a comparable sales slide of 2 per cent, bringing down the year-to-date sales by 1 per cent.
In the UK and the Republic of Ireland, comparable store sales for the period were down 3 per cent, and year-to-date was down by 2 per cent.
However, this is up from the 3 per cent decline seen at the half-year stage. Then, a weakened UK market was being bolstered by strong sales through openings within Irish pharmacies.
The Americas were also badly hit over Christmas. Comparable sales were down 4 per cent and 3 per cent for the year to date.
Body Shop International, which employs more than 5,000 people in over 1,900 stores and 50 markets worldwide, has improved net debt which, at the end of December, stood at£33.1 million compared with last year's£49.8 million. This reflects work done on tightening working capital and inventory levels.
Christmas operating margin is in line with the 2.5 per cent reported at the interims.
Peter Ridler, former UK managing director of Staples, has been appointed as Body Shop's Britain and Ireland chief.
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