Wumart

As we are waiting for Wumart, the Chinese supermarket company (think "Wal-Mart"), to announce its results today, I am reflecting on what an extraordinary few months the shares have enjoyed. Last year, a Chinese businessman called Zhao Danyang paid a record $2.1m in a charity auction on e-Bay to have lunch with Warren Buffett. The lunch took place on 24 June this year at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in New York. The day before the lunch, Zhao Danyang told the press that he'd be recommending Mr Buffett to look at one of his favourite companies, Wumart. This news set the share price on fire. On 24 June the price was HK$8.55. When he got back to China on 28 June, Zhao Dayang had already made a profit of $14m on his Wumart investment and on 3 August the price hit a high of HK$12.92. It is not known if Warren Buffett also invested.