French cosmetic maker L'Oreal mulls sale of its retail unit The Body Shop

French cosmetics maker L'Oreal confirms it is considering the sale of its retail unit The Body Shop.

In the company's earnings release, CEO Jean-Paul Agon said "it has been decided to explore all strategic options" for the subsidiary, but that the company had made no decisions yet.

The Financial Times had earlier reported that the business could be sold for about 1 billion euros (USD 1.1 billion).

The Body Shop hasn't performed as well as the wider company, with a 6-per cent decline in sales in the fourth quarter of 2016. L'Oreal's overall sales rose 5 per cent in the same period.

Its net income, however, fell to 3.1 billion euros last year from 3.3 billion euros in 2015 due to one-time charges it booked.