Perfume empire
A.S. Watson (ASW), a division of Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, recently bought out French perfume retailer Marionnaud. This makes A. S. Watson the leading perfume retailer in the world.
ASW already owns eight health and beauty retail chains, which in turn have 4,500 shops in 19 countries. Its low-end brands include Kruidvat and Trekpleister in the Netherlands, ICI Paris in Belgium, Superdrug and Savers in the UK, Brogas in the Baltic countries, and Watsons (the #1 Asian beauty products chain).
ASW bought Dutch drug chain Kruidvat in 2002. It was the #3 drugstore chain in Europe. It also bought 49% of Germany's drug chain Dirk Rossman.
Marionnaud owns over 1,200 perfume shops throughout Europe. It has a 30% share of the French perfume market. The company has some serious financial problems, and has too many stores in France. It is expected that ACW will attempt to close some of them, against union resistance.
According to an Economist article ("Scents and sensibility", 1/20/2005) ASW is also looking at taking over Sephora, a luxury perfume and cosmetics chain, which owner Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) is planning to sell. The company is also planning major expansion in China, where it is planning to set up over a 1,000 new drug stores to take advantage of the thriving Chinese cosmetics market.
5:43:54 PM 
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