Beauty products chain Body Shop said today like-for-like sales were up 5 per cent in the eight weeks starting February 26th.
"Sales trends are slightly ahead of those reported for the last full year, with total retail sales up 8 per cent [in the eight weeks]," said Body Shop, which is being taken over by France's L'Oreal.
Body Shop said in a statement its pretax profit rose 5 per cent to £37.6 million (€54.7 million) in the 52 weeks to February 25th, on turnover up 15 per cent to £486 million.
Body Shop, which expanded into Jordan and Russia last year, said it would pay a second interim dividend of 4.4 pence, lifting the total dividend 16 percent to 6.6 pence.
On March 17th, L'Oreal, the world's top cosmetics group, unveiled an agreed deal to buy Body Shop for £652 million, or 300 pence per share.
Body Shop, which began life as a single shop in Brighton in 1976, is 18 per cent owned by its founder Anita Roddick and husband Gordon.
To fund her second shop in Chichister, Roddick sold a half share in the business to Ian McGlinn, a local garage owner, who still has a 21 per cent stake that will net him a £137 million return on his £5,000 investment.