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A Colour That Brings the Brand to Life
Watsons Evergreen is a vibrant blue-green hue that symbolises everyday vitality, care and reassurance, reflecting Watsons’ purpose of helping customers LOOK GOOD, DO GOOD, FEEL GREAT every day. As a distinctive visual identity, it creates a shared language that connects Watsons markets worldwide.

From Watsons’ logo and store design to merchandising displays, digital channels and Own Brand products, Watsons Evergreen has long been a familiar presence across customer touchpoints. The Watsons Evergreen campaign will roll out across 16 markets, including Asia, Europe and the Middle-East, through a series of customer and community activations, as well as a curated range of products, reinforcing the brand’s long-standing connection with customers and communities around the world.

Celebrating a Heritage of Trusted Care
At the heart of the initiative is a simple belief: Watsons has always been there for customers and will continue to be for generations to come.

For 185 years, Watsons has supported customers in their everyday health needs, beauty routines and wellbeing moments, whether in-store or online. Watsons Evergreen reflects this enduring relationship, serving as a symbol of consistency, trust and care in an ever-evolving world.

Jared DeGuzman, Customer Director of Watsons International, said, “For 185 years, Watsons has helped customers feel healthier, happier and more confident in their daily lives. Watsons Evergreen captures that role in a simple yet powerful way. By partnering with Pantone, we’ve transformed our iconic brand colour into a global symbol of vitality, care and wellbeing that will connect customers across every Watsons market.”

Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute™, added, “Watsons Evergreen captures the essence of a brand that has stood the test of time while continuing to grow and evolve. It is a colour that speaks of vitality and longevity, and of a deep, lasting connection to the customers and communities Watsons has served for generations.”

As Watsons marks this milestone anniversary, Watsons Evergreen stands as both a reflection of its rich heritage and a symbol of its forward-looking vision – uniting past and future in one distinctive expression of the brand.

Hashtag: #ASWatson

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About Watsons

Watsons is the leading O+O (Offline plus Online) health and beauty retailer in Asia, currently operating 8,000 stores and more than 1,500 pharmacies in 16 Asian, European and Middle-East markets.

Watsons is named as the No.1 Personal Care and Beauty retailer in Asia*, providing personalised advice and counselling in health, beauty and personal care on top of its market-leading product range, making customers LOOK GOOD, DO GOOD, FEEL GREAT every day. Watsons is the flagship health and beauty brand of AS Watson Group.

Launched in 2019, Watsons’ Asia One Pass rewards our customers with local-member privileges and enables them earn points when they shop with Watsons in ten markets in Asia including Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Türkiye and the Philippines.

*Campaign Asia-Pacific’s Top 50 Brands survey with 10,000 respondents across 6 Asian countries

About AS Watson Group

Established in 1841, AS Watson Group is one of the world’s longest-standing and most recognised retail companies with roots in Asia. Today, the company operates over 17,000 stores across 12 retail brands in 31 markets, employing 130,000 people globally. This makes AS Watson Group the largest international health and beauty retailer in the world.

In the fiscal year 2025, AS Watson Group reported revenue of over US$26 billion. The company’s technology-enabled O+O (Offline plus Online) platforms serve over 6 billion shoppers annually, seamlessly integrating physical and digital retail experiences.

AS Watson Group supported over 180 charitable and non-profit organisations every year, dedicating over 40,000 hours of volunteer work to serve over 370,000 people in need in our operating markets.

AS Watson Group is also a member of the world-renowned multinational conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings Limited, which has four core businesses – ports and related services, retail, infrastructure and telecommunications in over 50 countries.

Please visit www.aswatson.com/our-company/o-and-o-strategy/ for more information.

The airlines signed a memorandum of understanding that establishes a framework for negotiating a future joint business agreement. The proposed arrangement would deepen their existing codeshare relationship and could allow closer coordination across schedules, sales, network planning and passenger services.

The partnership is expected to explore single-ticket journeys across the two carriers’ combined networks. Garuda Indonesia passengers could gain easier access to Saudia-operated destinations in the Middle East, Europe and Africa, while Saudia customers could connect through Garuda’s domestic network and services to Australia.

The carriers will examine coordinating flight schedules between Saudi Arabia and Indonesia to improve connection times and reduce lengthy transfers. They will also assess joint sales, marketing and distribution initiatives in markets where both airlines see opportunities for traffic growth.

Cooperation could extend to frequent-flyer programmes, airport services, technology systems and customer handling. The memorandum also places particular emphasis on services for Umrah and Hajj passengers travelling from Indonesia, one of the world’s largest markets for pilgrimage-related air travel.

Saudia Chief Commercial Officer Arved von zur Muehlen and Garuda Indonesia Director of Transformation Neil Raymond Mills signed the agreement. The ceremony was attended by Saudia Group Director General Ibrahim Al-Omar and Garuda Indonesia Vice President Director Thomas Sugiarto Oentoro.

Von zur Muehlen said the agreement reflected Saudia’s strategy of building commercial partnerships that strengthen its international network. He said the proposed cooperation would offer passengers greater flexibility between Indonesia, Australia and destinations served by Saudia across three regions.

Mills said the partnership carried strategic value beyond expanding flight networks. Improved access to the Middle East, Europe and Africa would support pilgrimage travel, family and community movement, business links and wider economic cooperation.

A joint business agreement would represent a deeper form of cooperation than a conventional codeshare. Codeshares allow airlines to sell seats on flights operated by a partner, while joint business structures can involve coordinated scheduling, pricing, sales and capacity planning, subject to regulatory approval.

Such arrangements allow airlines to extend their market reach without immediately adding aircraft or launching a large number of new routes. They can also improve aircraft utilisation and feed passenger traffic through major hubs. Regulators, however, generally examine these partnerships to ensure that closer coordination does not weaken competition or limit consumer choice.

The proposed partnership builds on the airlines’ membership of the SkyTeam alliance. Saudia joined SkyTeam in 2012, while Garuda Indonesia became a member in 2014. Alliance membership already supports shared passenger benefits, lounge access, priority services and frequent-flyer recognition across participating carriers.

Saudia operates from hubs including Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam and Medina, connecting Saudi Arabia with destinations across Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Its Jeddah hub is particularly important for religious travel because of its proximity to Makkah and its role as a gateway for pilgrims.

Garuda Indonesia’s network is centred on Jakarta and Bali, with domestic services covering major commercial centres and tourism destinations across the archipelago. Its international operations connect Indonesia with markets in Asia, the Middle East and Australia.

The agreement comes as Garuda expands commercial cooperation with overseas airlines during its continuing operational and financial restructuring. The carrier launched a codeshare partnership with Scandinavian Airlines in June, offering connections between Indonesia and Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo through hubs including Amsterdam and Tokyo.

Greater cooperation with Saudia could strengthen Garuda’s access to markets that are difficult to serve economically with direct flights. The arrangement could also help generate connecting traffic for domestic destinations beyond Jakarta, including cities that supply significant numbers of Umrah and Hajj travellers.

Indonesia and Saudi Arabia have sought to expand economic and transport ties alongside their strong religious and cultural links. Agreements between companies from the two countries valued at about $27 billion were announced in 2025 across sectors including clean energy, petrochemicals and aviation fuel services.

Trump announced that generic drugs entering the United States would remain free of import duties until August 1, 2028. A tariff of 100% would then apply for one year, followed by a 200% levy from August 2029. The proposed schedule extends Washington’s pharmaceutical reshoring campaign beyond patented and branded medicines, which were targeted earlier.

India faces the greatest exposure because the United States is its largest pharmaceutical export market. Drug exports to the country were valued at about $9.7 billion in 2025, representing roughly 38% of total pharmaceutical shipments worth $25.8 billion.

The policy nevertheless does not automatically remove the price advantage enjoyed by manufacturers such as Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Aurobindo Pharma, Cipla, Lupin and Zydus Lifesciences. Many generic medicines produced in India are priced seven to 10 times below branded alternatives, leaving room for some products to remain competitive even after steep duties.

A medicine imported for $10 would cost $30 after a 200% tariff, excluding distribution and retail charges. It could still undercut a branded equivalent priced at $70 or $100. The calculation is less favourable for commodity generics, where several manufacturers compete on narrow margins and buyers demand the lowest possible price.

Generic medicines account for more than 90% of prescriptions dispensed in the United States but less than 13% of prescription-drug spending. That imbalance reflects their importance to American healthcare as well as the pressure placed on manufacturers by pharmacy chains, wholesalers, insurers and purchasing organisations.

The United States imported pharmaceutical products valued at about $213 billion in 2025. Finished medicines sold in retail packaging, including generic products, accounted for about $94.1 billion. Replacing those imports would require extensive investment, specialised workers, regulatory approvals and dependable supplies of active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Building a pharmaceutical plant can take several years. Companies must install production lines, validate manufacturing processes and secure approval from the US Food and Drug Administration before commercial sales begin. Each medicine may also require separate technical submissions and inspections, complicating attempts to shift large portfolios within the two-year exemption period.

Several major drugmakers have already established manufacturing or research operations in the United States, providing limited protection against future tariffs. Companies may expand those facilities, acquire local plants or transfer selected high-volume products while continuing to manufacture lower-margin medicines overseas.

The tariff could affect businesses unevenly. Manufacturers with specialised generics, injectable drugs, inhalers and complex formulations may have greater pricing power. Producers dependent on crowded categories such as basic tablets and capsules could face heavier pressure because customers can switch suppliers more easily.

Shares of leading pharmaceutical companies fell after the announcement, with some declining by more than 3% during Wednesday’s trading. The reaction reflected concern over long-term earnings rather than an immediate change in export conditions, as the duty-free window remains open for two years.

Implementation is also uncertain. Trump disclosed the schedule through a social-media statement, but no detailed executive order or customs framework had been issued. The administration must still clarify whether exemptions will be available for companies building factories, medicines facing shortages, critical hospital products or imports from countries covered by trade agreements.

Industry participants are expected to seek exclusions for essential medicines, arguing that tariffs could raise treatment costs and deepen shortages. The American generic-drug market has already faced supply disruptions linked to plant closures, quality failures and unsustainable pricing. Higher import costs could encourage some manufacturers to withdraw products rather than invest in additional capacity.

Washington’s strategy also faces a supply-chain constraint beyond finished medicines. A large portion of the active ingredients and chemical intermediates used by global manufacturers originates in China. Moving final production to the United States without diversifying those inputs would provide only partial protection against overseas disruption.

Drugmakers in India now have until August 2028 to adjust their production networks, negotiate with customers and identify medicines capable of absorbing higher duties. Expansion into Europe, Africa, Latin America and other regulated markets could reduce dependence on the United States, although none offers comparable scale.

By K Raveendran The spectacle in central Delhi this week carried a significance far beyond the barricades, detentions and blows captured on mobile-phone cameras. The first confrontation unfolded during the Cockroach Janta Party’s march from Jantar Mantar towards Parliament, while Tuesday brought another coercive police response when Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Congress […]

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