More Twists Than a Thriller: What One Financial Report Reveals About a Company’s 15-Year Fight for Survival

Financial reports are often the documents we scroll past. Filled with tables, footnotes, and legalese, they seem impenetrably dry—the corporate equivalent of watching paint dry. But every so often, buried in the unaudited figures and status updates, you find a story that’s more compelling than any business blockbuster.

That’s exactly the case with the latest quarterly report from TT International Limited. Beneath the surface of standard financial disclosures lies a multi-year saga of legal battles, collapsed multi-million dollar deals, and a relentless, decade-spanning fight for survival.

We’ve read through the dense legal and financial history so you don’t have to. Here are the five most surprising takeaways from one company’s epic journey through corporate purgatory.

1. This Restructuring Plan is Older Than a Teenager

The first and most stunning fact is the sheer longevity of the company’s core problem. TT International has been operating under a court-sanctioned “Scheme of Arrangement” since October 13, 2010.

In simple terms, a Scheme of Arrangement is a legal tool for a company in deep financial trouble to restructure its debts with its creditors under the supervision of the court. It’s a way to avoid liquidation and try to find a path forward. For most companies, this is a temporary, albeit difficult, chapter. For TT International, it has become the defining feature of its existence—a state of legal limbo lasting longer than the entire lifespan of many startups.

2. They’ve Lived Under Court Protection Since 2017

While the debt scheme has been in place since 2010, the company’s use of the legal system to stay afloat entered a new phase on August 11, 2017. On that day, it filed for a moratorium under the Companies Act—a legal shield to prevent creditors from suing them, seizing assets, or trying to wind up the company.

This moratorium, designed to provide “breathing space,” was not a one-time event. It has been the company’s primary survival tactic, requiring repeated applications to the High Court for extensions. This pattern of extensions paints a picture of a company perpetually on the edge, using the courts to buy just enough time to pursue the next rescue plan. The timeline of just a few of these extensions includes:

• Granted until February 2018
• Extended to August 2018
• Extended to April 2019
• Extended to December 2019
• …and numerous other extensions continuing through 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and into 2025.

This cycle of applications and extensions has kept the company shielded from its creditors for eight years, a legal lifeline that has been renewed time and time again.

3. The High-Stakes Investor Deal That Vanished Overnight

For years, the company’s survival hopes were pinned on a major investor, Celestial Palace Limited. In July 2019, this investor agreed to provide a S$48 million “Convertible Loan” to fund a “New Scheme” that would finally settle its debts. What followed was over four years of intense effort: negotiating terms, seeking regulatory approvals from authorities like the SGX-ST and the Securities Industry Council, getting shareholder approval, and securing dozens of court extensions.

Then, in a dramatic plot twist, the entire deal unraveled. On November 26, 2023, the investor, citing the company’s “significantly lower financial position,” signaled that the original S$48 million was off the table but offered to proceed with a smaller loan. However, after a month of tense, last-ditch negotiations, the two parties were unable to agree on new terms. On December 30, 2023, the lifeline that had been painstakingly assembled for over four years was officially and mutually terminated.

4. The Creditor Meeting That Keeps Getting Adjourned

After the collapse of the Celestial Palace deal, the company quickly pivoted, announcing it had secured a “New Lender” and proposed an “Amended New Scheme.” The next step was to get its long-suffering creditors to vote on this new plan at a Scheme General Meeting.

That meeting was scheduled for February 22, 2024. What followed was a staggering series of 13 consecutive adjournments of the same meeting, a pattern highlighting the immense complexity of getting all stakeholders to agree on a path forward. The series of adjournments reads like a case of corporate déjà vu:

• February 22, 2024
• April 12, 2024
• May 31, 2024
• June 21, 2024
• July 31, 2024
• August 30, 2024
• October 4, 2024
• November 21, 2024
• January 24, 2025
• March 14, 2025
• May 30, 2025
• July 14, 2025
• September 19, 2025 (adjourned to a date on or before November 12, 2025)

Each adjournment represents another hurdle in a marathon that seems to have no finish line.

5. While the Drama Unfolds, the Business is Still Struggling

Behind all the legal and financial maneuvering, there is still a business to run. This prolonged state of legal and financial uncertainty has taken a clear toll on the company’s core business operations. The report for the quarter ended June 30, 2025, grounds the entire saga in some very stark realities:

• Revenue was S4.2 million, a decrease of 31.2% from S6.0 million in the same quarter last year.
• The loss from operations grew by 72.1% to S$1.0 million.
• The total loss for the period increased by 53.9% to S$1.022 million.

The company’s own commentary in the report sums up the immense pressure it faces, painting a bleak picture of the current business environment:

The Group’s operating environment remains more challenging against a backdrop of a significantly weaker retail industry resultant from the Covid-19 impacts. This is on top of increasing margin pressures, rising costs across geographical regions, as well as manpower tightening policies in Singapore.

Conclusion: A Story of Tenacity

Distilled from the dense pages of a single financial report, the story of TT International is a remarkable chronicle of corporate tenacity. It’s a case study in using every available legal mechanism to stay alive, navigating failed deals, and continually searching for a new solution against a backdrop of challenging financial performance.

It’s a testament to incredible persistence, but it raises a critical question: in the world of business, when does a fight for survival become a story without an end?

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