The Hain Celestial Group Announces Joint Venture With Hutchison China Meditech Limited to Develop Natural and Organic Consumer Products in Asia

The Hain Celestial Group Announces Joint Venture With Hutchison China Meditech
Limited to Develop Natural and Organic Consumer Products in Asia

MELVILLE, N.Y., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Hain Celestial Group,
Inc. (Nasdaq: HAIN), a leading natural and organic products company, today
announced the signing of a joint venture agreement with Hutchison China
Meditech Ltd. ("Chi-Med") (AIM: HCM), the majority owned subsidiary of
Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HKSE: 0013). With pharmaceutical and healthcare
operations primarily in China, Chi-Med will market and distribute infant and
toddler feeding products co-branded under the Earth's Best® and Zhi Ling Tong
brand names and market and distribute selected Hain Celestial brands in China
and other markets, leveraging the worldwide retail network for product
distribution of the Hutchison Whampoa Group. Under the terms of the
agreement, each partner will own 50% of a newly created entity, Hutchison Hain
Organic Holdings Limited.

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"We have established a strong foundation for our brands in North America and
Europe and look to deepen our franchise and widen our reach into China and
Asia, said Irwin D. Simon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hain
Celestial. "Our joint venture with an esteemed partner in Chi-Med and
Hutchison Whampoa accelerates our entry with a partner whose values and
product portfolio are entirely consistent with ours."

Christian Hogg, Chief Executive Officer of Chi-Med, said, "Tapping into Hain
Celestial's know-how in natural and organic infant and toddler feeding is an
important step forward in Chi-Med's strategy. The joint venture leverages
Chi-Med's extensive China distribution network and significantly adds to our
platform in infant nutrition, one of China's fastest growing categories. It
also capitalizes on the long-established relationships and international
retail strengths of Hutchison Whampoa to grow Hain Celestial's portfolio of
brands in the region, to our mutual benefit."

Chi-Med, majority-owned by Hutchison Whampoa Limited, has a strong position in
pharmaceutical and healthcare products in China, including an extensive
distribution network. With its highly respected Zhi Ling Tong brand, it also
has a strong platform and growing sales in the Chinese infant nutrition
supplements market. Hain Celestial's Earth's Best® is the fastest growing
established brand in infant feeding in the United States. Through its wholly
owned A.S. Watson Group, Hutchison Whampoa is a major international retailer
with over 8,400 retail stores in 34 markets. A.S. Watson has a strong
presence in Asia with over 270 supermarkets and mega stores under the name
PARKnSHOP and over 1,700 Watson's health and beauty stores. In Europe, it has
over 1,600 luxury perfumery and cosmetics stores and over 4,700 health &
beauty stores under brand names including Superdrug (UK), Marionnaud (France,
Austria, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Portugal), Rossmann (Germany),
Kruidvat, ICI Paris XL, and Trekpleister (Belgium and Netherlands).

The Hain Celestial Group

The Hain Celestial Group (Nasdaq: HAIN), headquartered in Melville, NY, is a
leading natural and organic company in North America and Europe. Hain
Celestial participates in almost all natural food categories with well-known
brands that include Celestial Seasonings®, Terra®, Garden of Eatin'®, Health
Valley®, WestSoy®, Earth's Best®, Arrowhead Mills®, MaraNatha®, SunSpire®,
DeBoles®, Hain Pure Foods®, Hollywood®, Spectrum Naturals®, Spectrum
Essentials®, Walnut Acres Organic®, Imagine®, Rice Dream®, Soy Dream®,
Rosetto®, Ethnic Gourmet®, Yves Veggie Cuisine®, Granose®, Realeat®, Linda
McCartney®, Daily Bread(TM), Lima®, Grains Noirs®, Natumi®, JASON®, Zia®
Natural Skincare, Avalon Organics®, Alba Botanica®, Queen Helene®, Tushies®
and TenderCare®. Hain Celestial has been providing "A Healthy Way of
Life(TM)" since 1993. For more information, visit www.hain-celestial.com

About Chi-Med

Chi-Med (AIM: HCM) is the holding company of a pharmaceutical and healthcare
group based primarily in China and was admitted to trading on the Alternative
Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in May 2006. It is focused on
researching, developing, manufacturing, and selling pharmaceuticals, health
supplements and other consumer health and personal care products derived from
Traditional Chinese Medicine and botanical ingredients. Chi-Med is majority
owned by Hutchison Whampoa Limited, an international company listed on the
Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. For more information,
visit www.chi-med.com.

About Hutchison Whampoa Limited

HWL is a leading international corporation committed to innovation and
technology with businesses spanning the globe. Its diverse array of holdings
range from some of the world's biggest port operators and retailers to
property development and infrastructure to the most technologically-advanced
and marketing-savvy telecommunications operators. HWL reports turnover of
approximately HKD348 billion (USD45 billion) and HKD141 billion (USD18
billion) for the year ended 31 December 2008 and for the six months ended 30
June 2009 respectively. With operations in 54 countries and approximately
220,000 employees worldwide, HWL has five core businesses - ports and related
services; property and hotels; retail; energy, infrastructure, investments and
others; and telecommunications. HWL is among the largest companies listed on
the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Flagship companies include
Hutchison Port Holdings, Hutchison Whampoa Properties, A S Watson, Cheung Kong
Infrastructure and Hutchison Telecom. For more information, visit
www.hutchison-whampoa.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within and constitutes
a "Safe Harbor" statement under Rule 3b-6 of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, as amended. Words such as "expect," "expected", "anticipate,"
"estimate," "believe," "may," "potential," "can," "position", "positioned,"
"should," and similar expressions, or the negative of those expressions, may
identify forward-looking statements. Except for the historical information
contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release are
forward-looking statements that involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties, which could cause our actual results to differ materially from
those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks include but are
not limited to our ability to achieve our guidance for sales and earnings per
share in fiscal year 2010 given the recession in the U.S. and other markets
that we sell products as well as economic and business conditions generally
and their effect on our customers and consumers' product preferences, and our
business, financial condition and results of operations; changes in estimates
or judgments related to our impairment analysis of goodwill and other
intangible assets; our ability to implement our business and acquisition
strategy, including our strategy for improving results in Europe; our ability
to realize sustainable growth generally and from investments in core brands,
offering new products and our focus on containment, productivity, cash flow
and margin enhancement in particular, our ability to effectively integrate our
acquisitions; competition; the success and cost of introducing new products as
well as our ability to increase prices on existing products, availability and
retention of key personnel; our reliance on third party distributors,
manufacturers and suppliers; our ability to maintain existing contracts and
secure and integrate new customers; our ability to respond to changes and
trends in customer and consumer demand, preferences and consumption;
international sales and operations; changes in fuel and commodity costs; the
continuing adverse effects on our results of operations from the impacts of
foreign exchange; the resolution of civil litigation regarding our stock
option practices; changes in, or the failure to comply with, government
regulations; and other risks detailed from time-to-time in the Company's
reports filed with the SEC, including the annual report on Form 10-K for the
fiscal year ended June 30, 2009. As a result of the foregoing and other
factors, no assurance can be given as to future results, levels of activity
and achievements and neither the Company nor any person assumes responsibility
for the accuracy and completeness of these statements.

SOURCE The Hain Celestial Group, Inc.

Ira Lamel, or Mary Anthes, both of The Hain Celestial Group, Inc.; David
Lilly, or Paige Gruman, both of Kekst and Company, +1-212-521-4800; For
Chi-Med, Anthony Carlisle, or David Dible, both of Citigate Dewe Rogerson, +44
(0) 20 7638 9571, +44 (0) 7973 611 888, +44 (0) 7967 566 919