A.S. Watson Group
A.S. Watson Group is the world's largest international health and beauty retailer, with over 16,398 stores in 28 markets worldwide serving over 5.3 billion customers every year, and over 137 million loyalty program members.
A member of CK Hutchison Holdings, ASW operates the world's largest portfolio of retail formats, and retail brands and has the largest geographical presence. The company is majority owned by the multinational conglomerate CK Hutchinson Holdings Ltd (75%) and Temasek Holdings (23%).
Employees: 140 000
Revenue: HK$84 905 million for FY2021
HQ Location: Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong
What they do:
They provide high-quality personal care, health and beauty products; food and fine wines; as well as consumer electronics and electrical appliances. ASW also manufactures and distributes bottled water and other beverages in Hong Kong and the Mainland.
Since the start of the pandemic, ASW has transformed part of its water factory to produce face masks in Hong Kong.
Their vision and priorities:
Their vision is to be the world's leading health, beauty, and lifestyle retailer.
“We bring MORE to life” is their commitment to customers, colleagues, communities, and shareholders
Financial Goals
To achieve growth in recurring earnings and increase shareholder return while maintaining a strong financial position
Ensure disciplined execution of prudent financial, liquidity, and cash flow management.
To continue to seek sustainable business opportunities which align with their core strategy of increasing shareholder value.
Four things to know right now
A.S. Watson announces the sponsoring of 5,000 corrective surgeries through Operation Smile worldwide as well as launching the Women in Medicine program.
They recently scooped up the highly prestigious Enterprise Architecture Award 2022 (APAC) at Forrester’s Technology & Innovation APAC event.
They have recently launched “Skinfie Lab”, an innovative skin analysis tool that creates highly personalized skincare product recommendations based on customers’ selfies.
Announces its commitment to provide 200,000 job openings for young people globally by 2030.
Brands in the A.S. Watson Group
Health and Beauty
Luxury Perfumeries and Cosmetics
Food, Electronics, and Wine
Beverages
Their financial calendar (Half yearly reports)
H1: January - June - Earnings June 30th
H2: July - December - Around January 15th
Next Earnings Report:
Around 15th January 2023
Positives from the last earnings report:
The groups revenue of $HK84 905million increased by 3%
The group has 142 million loyal customers both online and offline which contributed to 65% of sales in these 6 months.
Greener Stores Global Framework was launched successfully thus heightening the environmentally sustainable practices in-store design, construction, and operations.
The group achieved promising growth across all segments over the first half of the year mostly offset by one-time non-cash write-offs arising from the conflict in Ukraine and decreased footfall in Hong Lond due to lockdown restrictions.
Comparable stores sales growth for the (H&B)Health and Beauty segment of 7.1% in the first half of 2022 was mainly contributed by the solid performance in the H&B operations in Europe which recorded a comparable stores sales growth of 9.9% led by the recovery of business in the UK and the luxury retail businesses.
H&B Asia also recorded an encouraging improvement with comparable store sales of 18.0% with Hong Kong, Malaysia, and the Philippines as the key contributors through adopting the appropriate store formats to meet local demands. The favorable comparable store sales growth is partly offset by H&B China, which reported a decline of -17.6%, as footfall continues to be below pre-pandemic levels.
Challenges from the last earnings report:
Fewer new stores were opened over the first 6 months of the year compared to the 6 months prior largely due to volatile market conditions where significant lockdowns have still impacted footfall in large communities.
At the peak of the lockdown, in the Mainland, 590 stores(14%) were temporarily closed.
Around 50 stores still remain closed with a renewed focus on building and implementing various initiatives for customer engagement to prepare for a full opening when the economy improves.