DFI Retail Group Holdings Limited (formerly known as Dairy Farm International Holdings Limited) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

–based retail company with legal bases in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

and Singapore. A subsidiary of the

Jardine Matheson Group Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited (also known as Jardines) is a Hong Kong–based, Bermuda-domiciled British multinational conglomerate. It has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and secondary listings on the Singapore Exchange ...

, it is a major

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

n retailer involved in the processing and wholesaling of food and health and beauty products.

Jardine Strategic Jardine Strategic Holdings Limited (, , ) is an investment holding company. It is a subsidiary of Jardine Matheson. The company holds substantial interests in Dairy Farm, a pan-Asian retail group, Hongkong Land, a property group, Mandarin Orienta ...

, a publicly listed

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

, has an attributable 78 percent stake in the firm. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

, with secondary listings on the

Singapore Exchange Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX Group) is a Singapore-based exchange conglomerate, operating Equity (finance), equity, fixed income, currency and commodity markets. It provides a range of listing, trading, clearing, settlement, depository and ...

(SGX) and

Bermuda Stock Exchange The Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX), established in 1971, is located in Hamilton, Bermuda. The stock exchange's 2010 'Year End Review' report stated that its aggregate market capitalisation (excluding mutual funds) stood at US$319 billion. The e ...

(BSX). The head office is in the Devon House in

Taikoo Place Taikoo Place () is a commercial building complex located in Quarry Bay, east Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It comprises grade A office towers, car parking, clubs, office apartment, parks, and shops. It is reachable by MTR Island line (MTR). These ...

Quarry Bay Quarry Bay is an List of buildings, sites, and areas in Hong Kong, area beneath Mount Parker (Hong Kong), Mount Parker in the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern District of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Quarry Bay is bordered by Sai Wan Ho ...

. As of 31 December 2020, the Group, its associates and joint ventures operated over 9,997 outlets;

Wellcome Wellcome ( zh, first=j, c=惠康, j=wai6 hong1, p=Huìkāng) is a supermarket chain owned by British conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings via its DFI Retail Group subsidiary. The Wellcome supermarket chain is one of the two largest super ...

/Food World (supermarkets), a controlling stake in

Maxim's Catering Maxim's Caterers Limited ( zh, t=美心食品有限公司, cy=Méihsām Sihkbán Yáuhhaahn Gūngsī) is a Hong Kong–based food, beverage and restaurant chain jointly owned by Dairy Farm International Holdings Limited and Hong Kong Caterers Lt ...

(

foodservice The foodservice (US English) or catering (British and Commonwealth English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes restaurants, grocery stores, school and hospital cafet ...

Cold Storage Tim Wright, known professionally as CoLD SToRAGE (stylised as CoLD SToRAGE), is a Welsh video game music composer best known for his work on ''Wipeout 2097''. His compositions for the game drew on 1990s UK big beat and electronic music trends ...

(supermarkets), Jasons Market Place/Market Place by Jasons/Jasons Food Hall (high end supermarkets),

Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

(supermarkets),

Mannings Mannings () is a personal care product chain owned by Dairy Farm International Holdings, which is in turn owned by Jardine Matheson. It is known as Guardian () in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore. By the end of 2016 ...

/Guardian (health and beauty) stores; it also operates

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc. is an American convenience store chain, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan, which in turn is owned by the retail holdings company Seven & I Holdings. The chain was founde ...

(convenience stores) throughout the region, and

IKEA IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services. IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit an ...

(home furnishings) stores in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. The group and its associates and joint ventures operated over 9,997 outlets, employed over 220,000 people and had total annual sales in excess of US$28.2 billion.

History

Dairy Farm was set up in 1886 by Sir

Patrick Manson Sir Patrick Manson (3 October 1844 – 9 April 1922) was a Scottish physician who made important discoveries in parasitology, and was a founder of the field of tropical medicine. He graduated from the University of Aberdeen with degrees in Ma ...

,Hong Kong Hongs with Long Histories and British Connections
" Hkjo.lib.hku.hk, Retrieved on 2013-01-03. a Scottish surgeon, and five well known Hong Kong businessmen. They initially aimed to improve the health of Hong Kong people by providing them with non-contaminated cows' milk and to import a herd of dairy

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

so as to decrease the price of milk by more than half. The farm was located in

Pok Fu Lam Pok Fu Lam ( zh, t=薄扶林, links=no, labels=no) or Pokfulam is a residential area on Hong Kong Island, at the western end of the Southern District. It is a valley between Victoria Peak and Mount Kellett, around Telegraph Bay. Pok Fu L ...

. In 1890, Dairy Farm built a low-rise brick and stucco building on

Lower Albert Road Lower Albert Road ( Chinese: 下亞厘畢道) is a road on the Government Hill in the Central area of Hong Kong. The road was named after Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the consort of Queen Victoria. Features The south major entranc ...

in Central for use as a cold storage warehouse. This warehouse was later renovated and expanded in 1913 to include a

dairy shop A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

, a room for meat smoking, a cold storage room for winter clothes and residency for its manager. The building later evolved into the company headquarters until the company moved in the 1970s. The abandoned building was acquired by the

Hong Kong Fringe Club Founded by Benny Chia in 1984, the Fringe Club is a not-for-profit arts organisation. Its mission is to help emergent artists, promote Hong Kong artists abroad through cultural exchange and overseas touring, and conserve and develop Hong Kong ...

, a non-profit-making arts organisation in 1984, and has been carefully restored. This distinctive 19th century building, now known as the

Old Dairy Farm Depot The Old Dairy Farm Depot, or Old Dairy Farm Building, is a building in Central, Hong Kong, which currently houses the Hong Kong Fringe Club (South Block) and the Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong, Foreign Correspondents' Club (North ...

, is a well-known landmark in Central providing a wide variety of cultural activities and performances. In 1904, Dairy Farm began importing frozen meat and opened its first retail store at the Central District depot. The second Dairy Farm store was established on

Nathan Road Nathan Road () is the main thoroughfare in Kowloon, Hong Kong, aligned south–north from Tsim Sha Tsui to Sham Shui Po. It is lined with shops and restaurants and throngs with visitors, and was known in the post–World War II years as the Gol ...

Kowloon Kowloon () is one of the areas of Hong Kong, three areas of Hong Kong, along with Hong Kong Island and the New Territories. It is an urban area comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It has a population of 2,019,533 and a populat ...

towards the end of the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

in 1918. Amongst other things, this store provided fishing boats in Hong Kong with large amounts of ice. In 1960, Dairy Farm and

Lane Crawford Lane Crawford (HK) Limited () is a retail company founded in 1850 operating specialist department stores selling luxury goods in Hong Kong and Mainland China. It is headquartered in , Wong Chuk Hang. Lane Crawford is a part of the Lane Crawfo ...

formed a merged food retailing operations and renamed these supermarkets as Dairy Lane under Dairy Lane Limited. This joint business was undone by the acquisition of the

chain in 1964. In 1972, Dairy Farm was acquired by

Hong Kong Land Hongkong Land (HKL) is a property investment, management and development group with commercial and residential property interests across Asia. It owns and manages some 850,000 sq. m. of office and retail property in Asia, principally in Hong K ...

, a Jardines subsidiary. In 1986 Dairy Farm was relisted on the

Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (, SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. It is one of the largest stock exchanges in Asia and the List of major stock exchanges, 9th largest globally by market ...

after it was demerged from Hong Kong Land. Dairy Farm acquired a 50% interest in Maxim's at the same time from Hong Kong Land. The

convenience store chain in Hong Kong and Singapore was acquired from Jardine Matheson in 1989. Since 1999, Dairy Farm has continued to expand its footprint by acquiring supermarket and other retail operations in Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Notably, it also acquired

Hong Kong, Taiwan in 2002 and began Ikea's Indonesian operation in 2014. In May 2012, Dairy Farm bought a 50% stake in the Rustan Supercenters, Inc., the Rustan group's supermarket chain. 36% came from the Tantoco family and 14% from the Spinnaker group. Its holdings increased to 64% in 2015 and 100% in 2017. On March 23, 2018, the entire stake was sold to Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. through a

stock swap In corporate finance, a stock swap is the exchange of one equity-based asset for another, where, during the merger or acquisition, the swap provides an opportunity to pay with stock rather than with cash; see . Overview The acquiring company ...

, yielding Dairy Farm 18.25% of Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. stock. In 2018, therefore, Rustan Supercenters are fully acquired by Robinsons Retail Holdings the 20.00% of which is owned by Mulgrave Corporation and GCH Investments, wholly owned subsidiaries of Dairy Farm. As of June 2011, Dairy Farm is 78% owned by Jardine Matheson Holdings. In August 2021, Dairy Farm rebranded its trading name to DFI Retail Group. On 5 May 2022, the company subsequently changed its legal name to DFI Retail Group Holdings Limited, effectively phased out the Dairy Farm branding.

Discontinued operations

*In 1998, Dairy Farm sold out its 49% interest in Nestlé Dairy Farm, set up in 1992 to develop dairy products factories throughout China, to

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

; on the merger of

Kwik Save Kwik Save is a British convenience store chain. Prior to 2007, it was also a discount supermarket chain that had shops across the United Kingdom. It went into administration in July 2007, but was brought back in April 2012. Its shops were s ...

with

Somerfield Somerfield ( ) was a chain of small to medium-sized supermarkets operating in the United Kingdom. The business started life in the 19th century as grocers J. H. Mills, and after a series of buyouts and mergers, the company became known as Gatew ...

, Dairy Farm sold its 11% holding for US$290 million. Dairy Farm acquired 25% of the "No Frills" Kwik Save Group in 1987; Sold the 108-store Simago chain in Spain acquired in 1990. *In March 2000, Dairy Farm sold its half share in DFI Géant, the Taiwan hypermarket opened in 1998 back to

Casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

, its joint venture partner. *In 2001, the company sold the 287-store

Franklins Franklins was an Australian discount supermarket chain selling packaged groceries and perishables throughout New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. It sold the "No Frills" home brand generic products. In 2011 the chain wa ...

chain in Australia which it acquired in 1978. Its Hong Kong–based distribution business, Sims Trading, was sold to

CITIC Pacific CITIC Limited () is a conglomerate headquartered in Hong Kong. Its shares are listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and it is a constituent of the Hang Seng Index. 58% of its issued shares are owned by the Chinese state-own ...

. *In June 2002, the 61-store Woolworths chain in New Zealand acquired in 1990, was sold for US$337 million. *In 2004, the Group's Hong Kong ice manufacturing business which began in 1918 was sold for US$107 million. *In 2023, the Group's Malaysian food retailing business was sold to Macrovalue Sdn Bhd and in 2025, the Group's Singaporean food retailing business was sold to Macrovalue Pte Ltd. *On 19 April 2024, DFI's subsidiary PT Hero Supermarket Tbk announced it would divest its supermarket businesses along with the rights to the

brand to PT Hero Retail Nusantara for 135 billion rupiahs.Hero Supermarket Akan Ganti Nama, Fokus Investasi ke Guardian dan IKEA
/ref>

Controversy

Wellcome, a major food retailer owned by Dairy Farm Group, have been cited by the Taiwanese government for 33 labor violations in Taiwan. These include instances of maintaining unsafe work spaces that potentially endangered employees, having staff members work unpaid overtime beyond legal limitations, and refusing pay and rest time to employees.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Dairy products companies of Hong Kong Jardines (company) Retail companies established in 1886 Companies formerly listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Former companies in the Hang Seng Index Retail companies of Hong Kong Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Singapore Exchange Companies in the Straits Times Index 1973 mergers and acquisitions

History

Discontinued operations

Controversy

See also

References

External links