FOR most L’Oréal women, activism is all about having a pedicure and manicure simultaneously, the company would have us believe.

The French cosmetics group employs such dazzling icons as Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz and Andie MacDowell to urge its clients to slather their faces and bodies with its products “Because You’re Worth It”. But the brand image that L’Oréal has stamped on the global collective memory over many years may soon change.

The company is plotting a bid for the Body Shop, a group that sells activism along with its avocado foot gel.

A takeover of the Body Shop could yield some £120 million for its founder, Dame Anita Roddick, and her husband, Gordon, but it is unclear whether Dame Anita, who once described chief executives as “robber barons” would accept an offer from the French cosmetics giant.

The Body Shop, whose website urges readers to “get informed, get outraged, get inspired, get active” on issues such as Iraq and water shortage, has 1,900 outlets worldwide and a reputation for selling ethically produced products. In a statement to the stock exchange, L’Oréal said its management was considering “a possible offer for Body Shop”, adding that any offer would be made in cash.

The statement added: “However, no decision has been made regarding any offer . . . and no approach has been made to Body Shop.” A spokesman for L’Oréal later denied that the French group was preparing a bid. Whether, if it is successful, the company will embrace the Body Shop’s aims, it wasn’t saying.

But L’Oréal, which last year generated £1.6 billion in net profits for its shareholders, has toned down its pampered message in the past. The slogan “Because I’m Worth It” was “softened” two years ago to “Because You’re Worth It” as the French thought it too self-centred and money-orientated. It hasn’t, however, downgraded its promoters.

Johansson was paid a reported £2 million a year to follow Juliette Binoche, Natalie Imbruglia, MacDowell and co as one of the beautiful faces of L’Oréal. From being a local French player, it has become an international business under the guidance of Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, its British chairman and chief executive.

Sir Lindsay, whose 15-year tenure ended recently, steered it to its 21st successive annual profit rise. When he took charge, 80 per cent of L’Oréal’s sales came from France. Most of the brands were French too.

Sir Lindsay made L’Oréal a global player by quitting areas such as household cleaners and junking old brands. In their place came names such as Maybelline, which could be aimed at the important US market.

Body Shop is well known for its opposition to testing beauty products on animals. The corporate website of the company says that testing products or ingredients on animals is “morally and scientifically indefensible”. L’Oréal stopped all animal testing in 1989 on its cosmetics. However, in 1985, 50 per cent of its products were tested on animals. Hints of a bid were enough to push the value of Body Shop shares up 7 per cent, valuing the company at £570 million. A spokeswoman said there had been no contact with L’Oréal. “We are a sitting duck,” she said.

The two founders, who no longer have a formal role in the company, own 18 per cent of the Body Shop and a sale of the business, which analysts reckon could fetch 300p a share, would generate £137 million for Ian McGlinn, a former garage owner who invested £4,000 in the fledgling Body Shop in 1976. Dame Anita could not be contacted last night. Her office said she was abroad campaigning for the Angola Three, a group of African American political activists held in Angola prison, Louisiana.

Financial analysts were puzzled yesterday by L’Oréal’s move. It is not a high street retailer, its only outlets being the occasional boutique for a leading brand, such as Lancôme. The answer may lie in evidence that L’Oréal’s global expansion is gently slowing, its underlying sales rose 9 per cent in 2002 but achieved only half that rate last year.

SELLING OUT

PJ Smoothies, the healthy fruit drinks business founded by a former commodities broker, sold to PepsiCo for about £20m

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