Don't cry over stock market exits. Until growth returns, there'll be more

ANOTHER new year has begun with a delisting of a household consumer name. Last year, it was massage-chair maker OSIM International; this year, it is Sunshine-bread maker Auric Pacific.

The two will join a long list of familiar companies exiting the Singapore bourse, in the footsteps of Eu Yan Sang, NOL, SMRT, Biosensors, Tiger Airways and Super Group.

As much as hands might be wrung at the hollowing out of the market, retail investors will shrug. Auric Pacific has not exactly been hot property. Costly acquisitions of the under-performing Delifrance bakery chain and food-court operator Food Junction Group have caused swings in the company's profitability for years.