Natura & Co confirmed it is exploring a “potential separation” of its Avon brand after reporting widening losses for another consecutive quarter.
Net losses for the former Body Shop owner widened 43.3% to £143.6m (BRL934.9m) in the first quarter, compared to the £100m (BRL652m) loss the year before.
Sales dropped 5.7% to £937.73m (BRL6.1bn), which it attributed to a tough quarter for beauty brand Avon.
Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free
Sign up here to get the latest news straight into your inbox each morning
Avon International sales plunged 13.1% to £214.4m (BRL1.3bn), due to “reduced representative activity from fewer available reps and the continuation of weaker promotional execution”.
Natura & Co chief executive Fabio Barbosa said: “Avon International had another challenging quarter with top-line down, impacted by a steep fashion and home decline and a softer impact of CFT [cosmetics, fragrances and toiletries] categories.
“The management team is working on simplifying the market, focusing on key countries, and enhancing our portfolio with superior promotional execution. We believe these steps are crucial to stabilise revenues and keep us on track to improve profitability.
“We are also continuing to evolve on the studies of a potential separation of Avon and we will keep the market informed as soon as we conclude such studies.”
It comes as Natura has offloaded Aesop and The Body Shop in the past year alone as it looks to strengthen its balance sheet and focus on its Latin America business.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
