L'oreal encouraged by Body Shop sales

Body Shop bounced back today from criticism surrounding its recent takeover by cosmetics giant L’Oreal as it delivered strong summer sales figures.

The ethical products company was accused of betraying its green heritage following the £632m (€936.9m) takeover because of the French firm’s use of animal testing.

However, despite the controversy there was no consumer backlash between July and September when Body Shop saw like-for-like sales increase 8.8% to €172m.

It was enough to add 1.8% to total global sales at L’Oreal in the first nine months of the year, which were up 8.3% to €11.6bn.

L’Oreal chief executive Jean-Paul Agon said: “The Body Shop is a very promising acquisition and is strengthening the group sales growth.”