SIMON LICHTENBERG ADMITS CHINESE TRAYTON MAKES MONEY FOR TG

SIMON LICHTENBERG ADMITS CHINESE TRAYTON MAKES MONEY FOR TG

 

The presumed successor for the Teachers Group-boss, Amdi Petersen, gives an exclusive interview to Danish newspaper "Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten"

 

The business group, Trayton, in China donates one-third of its yearly profit to the Teachers Group (TG).        And the Trayton-boss is a member of the TG.

 

The general manager of the Trayton Group, Simon Lichtenberg (Dane, 37 years old) confirms in the interview - which he has read and accepted before publishing.    [Editor's note: All the information about himself and Trayton Group that has appeared on this site during the years.   Exactly the information that he and the company demanded deleted from this site.    The Trayton Groups lawyers forced the British hosting company to close down this site for several months this summer - until the site changed to a Danish hosting company and started up again.]

 

Simon Lichtenberg came to Tvind when he was 7 years old together with his parents who joined the Teachers Group.   For many years now he himself has been a member of TG and has worked for it in Europe, Africa and Asia, possibly elsewhere.

 

Today he is the general manager for the Trayton Group in Shanghai, China - a very fast growing company producing and selling furniture, trading in timber and operating in the computer business.

 

The Trayton Group now has 1,500 employes - and expect to have 2,000 before the end of the year.

 

The furniture factory produces 20,000 sofas every month.   Trayton Timber imports timber from West Africa but are about to change to export Chinese plywood.    The Trayton Group also runs 18 "Bo Concept" furniture shops in 16 different Chinese cities.

 

This year the Trayton Groups turnover will be around 550 million Danish Kroner (50m).    The profit will be around 21 million Danish Kroner (2m).

 

Mr. Lichtenbergs ambition is that the Trayton Group shall have an annual growth of 30 percent and a faster growth in the profit rate than the present 3-4 percent.

 

Although Simon Lichtenberg claims that he personally owns the Trayton Group, he at the same time also admits that it is owned by Trayton Holding Ltd, which is registered in the tax haven Isle of Man with other TG-members in the board of directors. And he says that one-third of the profit annually goes to the Teachers Group - it means around 7 million Danish Kroner (635,700) this year. Two-third of the profit stays in Trayton to develop it.

 

"I am a member of the common economy (in the TG) so therefore I share my profit with the Teachers Group", he says.

 

He calls it "pure speculation" that he is planned to be Amdi Petersens successor. He only has, he says, the skills to run a business like Trayton in China, but not to run a much more complex organisation like the TG.

 

"At least not right now. If somebody asks me in 20 years, then maybe I will be ready. Right now I am busy making my business big", he says.