Next mulls Body Shop rescue bid

Next has reportedly approached administrators with plans to acquire some of The Body Shop’s assets, according to Sky News. 

The news comes shortly after The Body Shop collapsed into administration, with administrators at FRP Advisory announcing they expected to close nearly half of The Body Shop’s 198 stores at the end of its restructuring plans in a bid to secure the future of the retailer.

After years of unprofitability and following a full evaluation of The Body Shop’s UK business, joint administrators Geoff Rowley and Alastair Massey concluded that the current store portfolio mix is no longer viable. 

According to Sky, executives from Next have now contacted FRP Advisory to “express an interest in acquiring assets as part of any sale process it decides to launch”.

However, it also reported that there were doubts FRP would decide to run a conventional auction, with one source suggesting that contact between FRP and Next had “already stalled”.

Next is understood to have been monitoring the collapsed high street chain “for some time”, and sources close to the group said it had expressed an interest in assembling a deal.

According to Sky however, The Body Shop’s brand and intellectual property (IP) assets are not part of the administration process.

Instead it is understood that Aurelius, which took over The Body Shop earlier this year, is financing the rest of the business and as part of that has secured major assets including stock and IP.

Sky said FRP is expected to decide whether to launch an auction “within weeks”, and that a sale of the restructured business in its new form back to Aurelius was possible. 

It added that if Next did pursue a purchase of the chain, it would be “unlikely to retain many, if any, of The Body Shop’s British stores”.

Next has been contacted for comment.