Administrators exploring sale after collapse of Bodycare

Bodycare, a high street retailer of branded health and beauty products with close to 150 UK stores, has fallen into administration, with administrators now exploring a sale of the business and assets.

Nick Holloway, Chris Pole and Mike Leeds of Interpath Advisory have been appointed as administrators of G.R. & M.M. Blackledge plc, which trades as Bodycare. Upon their appointment, the administrators announced that 32 stores will close with immediate effect, resulting in around 450 redundancies.

Despite Bodycare’s collapse, the majority of the company’s stores (115 in total) are set to continue trading as usual while administrators assess options for the company, including a potential sale of the business and assets.

Bodycare was founded on a Lancashire market stall in 1970 and has grown to become one of the UK’s biggest health and beauty products retailers, employing around 1,500 staff across a network of 147 stores. The company sells branded health and beauty products, along with fragrances and bathroom consumables.

However, like many physical retailers, the company has faced mounting challenges over recent years, including rising costs, the impact of the cost-of-living on customer traffic and a delayed transition to its online retail platform.

These headwinds negatively affected the company’s financial position, while an aborted IPO last year resulted in a funding shortfall, which in turn placed a strain on the company’s supplier relationships and led to a stock shortage.

Interpath Managing Director and joint administrator Nick Holloway said: "These remain challenging times for high street retailers as rising costs and reduced consumer spending continue to weigh heavily on trading. Unfortunately for Bodycare, which was also contending with a significant funding gap and increasing creditor pressure, these challenges proved too difficult to overcome."

Holloway added: "Our intention is to trade the majority of the company’s stores in order to realise stock while we explore options for a possible sale of the business and its assets."

In accounts for the year to December 31 2024, the company reported turnover of £132.6 million, up from £128.8 million, but it fell from a slight post-tax profit of under £10,000 in 2023 to a loss of nearly £1.1 million.

At the time, its fixed assets were valued at £12.5 million and current assets at £28.6 million, while total equity amounted to approximately £13.2 million.


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