Milestones

The signposts along the road to innovation, excellence and reliability.

1976	The Phua brothers started their sofa business at Lowland Road, Singapore
1981	Acquired design and technical know-how from G Laauser GmbH & Co, West Germany
1986	Commenced exports to Japan, Hong Kong and Australia
1989	Started first overseas sofa manufacturing operations at Kulai, Malaysia
1990	Migrated Singapore manufacturing operations from rented facilities to own 11,000 sq.m. building at Kallang Way
1991	Received venture funds totalling S$8.8 million
1992	Established new 14,000 sq.m. sofa manufacturing factory at Kulai, Malaysia
1993	Listed on the Stock Exchange of Singapore
	Inked product licensing agreement with Musterring International, West Germany
1994	Commenced leather tanning operations in Singapore
	Commissioned third sofa manufacturing facility at Kunshan, China
1996	Set up 100% localised import and wholesale leather upholstery distribution operation in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan
1999	Initiated more active participation in major international furniture fairs
	Opened leather upholstery showroom at High Point, North Carolina, USA’s furniture hub
	Awarded ISO 9002 certification for sofa manufacturing plant at Kunshan, China
2000	Commissioned integrated 21,000 sq.m. tannery and sofa manufacturing facility at second Kunshan site
2001	Announced a bonus share issue of 1 new share for 2 existing shares
2002	Commenced ‘cut-and-sew’ manufacturing operations
	Commissioned new sofa manufacturing facility at Changshu, China
	Morgan Stanley Private Equity acquired 15.5% stake in HTL
	Recognised by Forbes Global as one of World’s 200 Best Small Companies
2003	Commissioned third tannery for wet blue production at Yangzhou, China
	Conferred Singapore Furniture Industries Council’s (SFIC) inaugural ‘The Furniture Manufacturer Award’
	Recognised (again) by Forbes Global as one of World’s 200 Best Small Companies
2004	Announced a bonus share issue of 1 new share for 4 existing shares
	Runner-up for Securities Investors Association Singapore’s (SIAS) ‘Most Transparent Company’ award in the non-electronic manufacturing category
	Recognised (for third year in a row) by Forbes Global as one of World’s 200 Best Small Companies
	Unveiled new corporate logo embodying our core values
	One of SIngapore's Top 100 Companies by overseas revenue
2005	Recognised by Forbes Asia as one of the Asia-Pacific's "200 Best Under a Billion Companies"
	Acquired Domicil Moebel GmbH, a top-end furnishings Company
	One of SIngapore's Top 100 Companies by overseas revenue
2006	Singapore Business Awards named Co-founder & Group Managing Director, Mr. Phua Yong Tat, as
	Businessman of the Year
2007	Singapore Corporate Awards named Mr Siew Peng Yim as CFO of the Year for Companies with market
	capitalization below S$500 million
2008	In January and August 2008, the Kulai sofa upholstery and tannery in Singapore ceased operations.
2009	In May 2009, the Group has committed to set up a new sofa manufacturing plant in Huai An to commence
	production of Trends Furniture brand of sofas.