Cao Shiru, chairman of Chengdu Hongqi Chain, has joined the ranks of the world’s billionaires following gains in the share price of her Shenzhen-listed convenience store chain.
Hongqi’s revenue in 2014 was 4.8 billion yuan, or $761 million, an increase of 7.4% from a year earlier. Net profit was 170 million yuan, or $27 million, a gain of 8%. Founded in 2000 in Chengdu, Hongqi now has 1,600 convenience stores in western China’s Sichuan Province.
Cao and son Cao Cengjun hold 61.5% of listed company, a stake worth 6.3 billion yuan, or $1 billion at today’s closing price of 12.79 yuan. The stock has more than doubled in the past year. China’s stocks have been the some of the world’s best performers in the past several months on a decline in interest rates and expectations of government economic stimulus.
Cao, 62, worked at collective business Hongqi from 1977 to 2000, rising to head the company’s wholesale business. She set up the predecessor of Hongqi Chain in 2000. Son Cao Cengjun is vice chairman and deputy general manager of the listed company.
-- with Maggie Chen
--Follow me on Twitter @rflannerychina
