As coronavirus pandemic made people to buy groceries and also order more, than to go out, there has been a rise in profitability of grocers. Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos added almost $24 billion to his wealth as e-com demand rose.
Its 35 years for the rented stall in a grocery store where Lim Hock Chee with his wife started selling chilled pork to help increase the supply glut at his father's pig farm; presently it has taken the name Sheng Siong Group Ltd. Their surge in wealth reflects how groceries market are doing in the time of coronavirus pandemic lockdown.
Now, the same family operates 61 supermarkets in Singapore, with coronavirus pandemic lockdown, while Lim and brothers gain more than a billion. The group's shares compete with Amazon in the state, the stocks increased more than 30 percent since its recent low on March 19, reported Bloomberg
Overall, a 57 percent stake of the group is with Lim and his two brothers, which has now surged to over $1.1 billion, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. When the first store of Sheng Siong was opened in 1985, this couldn't have been imagined.
Learning from SARS?
Previous outbreaks might have taught Lim about the grocery dynamics in such situations, as filings by an account held by Lin along with his wife showed that they bought more shares in the previous month. In a 2008 interview to Straits Times, Lim told that when SARS broke out, people stayed away from restaurants and "we enjoyed brisk business because more people started buying food to cook at home," he said.
According to analyst Juliana Cai from RHB Securities Singapore Pte, purchasing of groceries would remain robust even if panic buying and physical distancing get abated.
The global trend
Amazon Founder, Jeff Bezos added $24.9 billion, there are also reports that Amazon would recruit thousands of workers as home deliveries are on demand. At the same time Bezos' ex-wife MacKenzie Bezos took over Mukesh Ambani's net worth and added $8.65 billion, whereas Ambani lost $8.65 billion.
Radhakishan Damani, controlling Avenue Supermarts in India, witnessed an increase of 10 percent since the start of 2020. Elon Musk added $11.2 billion to his net worth. The Sheng Siong store network could be a taken over as a target for e-com players, according to analysts. Maybe the Lim brothers, being aware of it, has applied for a digital-banking license as the company is a part of a consortium of a gaming company Razer Inc leading it.
