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For Immediate Release
[Hong Kong, 7 March 2005] A.S. Watson, the retail and manufacturing division of Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL), today announced its entry into Turkey with its latest acquisition of Cosmo Shop, a local health and beauty retail chain. This acquisition expands A.S. Watson's footprint to 21 markets and also marks HWL's first entry into Turkey.
Established in 1993, Cosmo Shop with seven outlets at present is the pioneer of health and beauty retail concept and one of the strongest players in Turkey.
Ian Wade, A.S. Watson Group Managing Director commented on the latest strategic move, "Turkey is an attractive market for health and beauty retail business because of its sizeable population of 70 million and rising income trend. Moreover, there is a growing young population resulting in increasing consumption of health and beauty products. Cosmo Shop is a profitable chain and an ideal platform for us to establish our footprint in Turkey."
Andrew Miles, A.S. Watson's Chief Executive Officer for Health & Beauty Asia said, "We choose Cosmo Shop because its target customer profile of young urban women is similar to that of Watsons Your Personal Store. Cosmo Shop carries a range of over 6,000 products of high-quality and good-value merchandise that is in line with the retail concept of our group's health & beauty operations. To further grow the chain, we will bring in our expertise in information technology, sourcing, distribution, marketing as well as operations. We will open the first Watsons Personal Store in Istanbul this month and start the acquired store re-branding in the second quarter. Our target is to reach 100 stores over the next five years in Istanbul and throughout Turkey."
Since 2000, A.S. Watson has added 11 countries and seven retail brands to its retail portfolio through acquisitions and joint ventures. The company now operates in 21 markets in Europe and Asia with a store network of over 4,800 stores, and manages a total of 14 retail brands.
Notes to Editors
About A.S. Watson
A.S. Watson (ASW) is one of the oldest and best-known trading names originating in Asia. With a history dating back to 1828, ASW has evolved into a truly international retail and manufacturing business with operations in 21 markets across Europe and Asia.
A wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Limited, ASW operates 14 retail brands, over 4,800 stores spanning from health & beauty chains to its food, electronics & general merchandise, and airport retail divisions. Also an established player in the beverage industry, ASW provides a full range of beverages from bottled water, fruit juices, soft drinks and tea products to the world's finest wine labels via its international wine wholesaling and distribution. ASW employs over 64,000 people and in 2003, its reported turnover was HKD 63,086 million (approx. US 8,088 million).
The above press release and related photo can be found in our corporate website's News section [www.aswatson.com]
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