News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hong Kong, 10 March, 2003: Watsons, Asia's largest personal and health care retailer, is launching its first ever outlets at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) in February. The move in partnership with its sister company Nuance-Watson (HK) Limited Partnership, HKIA's largest retail operator, officially opened three Watsons Your Personal Store outlets today.

The outlets will be managed by Watsons sister company, Nuance-Watson (HK) Limited Partnership, and are located at the Check-In, Arrival and West Halls. A fourth outlet will be opened in the East Hall after the partial completion of the current East Hall expansion in the second half of 2003.

The move also expands the reach of Watsons HK$20-million Pharmacy Self Care Programme to include Hong Kong and international travellers. To address common health risks in travelling and further cater its product range for travellers at the airport outlets, the Watsons Pharmacy Self Care program, in association with the Chinese University of Hong Kong School of Pharmacy, has developed a series of useful travel and healthcare tips. These will be distributed free from the new outlets, ensuring Hong Kong and overseas travellers a safe and healthy trip.

Extending its commitment to safety and good health, Watsons, as Hong Kong's largest pharmacy chain, will have registered pharmacists available to customers of selected Watsons Your Personal Store outlets at HKIA to provide professional medical advice and cater to the medication needs of travellers.

Watsons Your Personal Store enjoys high awareness amongst international travellers, and is the best-known personal care store chain in Asia with over 650 outlets in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. Watsons strong international brand awareness will imbue HKIA travellers with a higher disposition to shop at the Watsons Your Personal Store outlets to fulfil their health and personal care needs when travelling.

Leveraging on the strength of its two parent companies, The AS Watson Group and The Nuance Group, (the world's largest and most experienced airport retail company with over 400 stores in 55 airports across the globe), Nuance-Watson will operate the three Watsons Your Personal Store outlets. The three outlets bring Nuance-Watson's total store number at HKIA to 29, reinforcing its leading airport operator position. Other stores include designer boutiques, perfumes & cosmetics stores, general merchandise stores and electronic stores. With its wide variety of products and store types, Nuance-Watson fulfils the shopping needs of travellers from all over the world, a fact confirmed by its recognition ranking as the 2002 Asia/Pacific Travel Retailer of the Year in the highly regarded Raven Fox Awards.

Watsons, established in 1828, is the largest personal care retail chain in Asia. Building on its long-standing reputation for quality and innovation, plus a high degree of consumer confidence, Watsons caters to a variety of lifestyles with an unrivalled diversity of products. In Hong Kong, Watsons has won a number of customer service awards and operates 138 stores with over 1,600 employees. Over 30 Watsons stores have licensed pharmaceutical counters, making it the leading pharmacy chain in town.

Watsons is the flagship retail brand and a member of the AS Watson Group (ASW), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hutchison-Whampoa Limited. ASW is an international retail and manufacturing group. It operates in 15 countries in Asia and Europe, with over 3,300 retail stores running the gamut from health & beauty chains to its food, electronics, general merchandise and airport retail arms. 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 wholesaler and distributor.