Toiletries and make-up group Body Shop International today reported a tumble into the red, as it showed a slip in sales and heavy costs had hit figures.

The group, famous for its environmentally-friendly stance, said sales had been hurt by tougher trading conditions in Europe and the US.

Like-for-like sales for the six months to August 31 were down 1% on the same period last year, while in the UK and Ireland, where the group has 319 shops, sales showed a 3% slide.

Body Shop said the fall in the UK was partly due to de-stocking its old make-up range ahead of launching new products, while figures were also affected by the group having a smaller summer sale this year.

The sales decline contributed to half-year pre-tax profits before one-off costs sliding to £2.5 million from £3 million the same period the previous year.

However, one-off costs of £4.2 million pushed the group £700,000 into the red, compared with £2.6 million pre-tax profits last time.

The charge related to costs of exiting from Botanicus, its natural products retail partnership, as well as redundancy costs.

Over the last six months Body Shop has cut 116 staff, more than half of which have been in the UK, including some in its international offices, based in London and Littlehampton.

Chief executive Peter Saunders said: "Our outcome for the full year is, as always, dependent on trading during the Christmas period, but we continue to believe that there will be an improvement in performance over last year."