However, consistency of quality was an issue then, as Leong Guan relied on three different suppliers. This means the same customers would be receiving “different kinds of noodles” with each new delivery, says executive chairman Jimmy Lim Tze Chiang. By late 2005, Leong Guan decided to move upstream and produce its own noodles from a factory in Woodlands.
The move into making its own noodles paid off, and Leong Guan’s growth took off. “All of a sudden, we can sell cheaper and access markets that we couldn’t as a trader,” says Lim in an interview with The Edge Singapore.
With larger volumes, the company could maintain better quality control and achieve higher margins. In tandem with a growing customer base, Leong Guan expanded its product range as well. Alongside cooked noodles such as yellow noodles, handmade noodles, hor fun and kway teow, the company also sold uncooked noodles, including mee kia, mee pok, ramen and wanton noodles. In 2012, Leong Guan further grew its range and volumes with tofu and tau kwa after acquiring a maker of soy-bean-based beancurd products.
By selling these staple foods, Leong Guan enjoys a steady base of business. At the same time, to drive growth, the company is constantly developing new products to meet changing market tastes while exploring new markets and ventures. “We need to change with [the] times,” says Lim. There are a lot of Singaporeans, or even Southeast Asians, spread all over the world. And if they want familiar home-cooked food, how are they going to get it? We are there to fill the gap.”
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The company developed its own range of wholegrain noodles in 2012, and in 2018, it opened a new sales channel after getting local supermarket chains Fairprice and Sheng Siong to carry its LG-branded products.
In 2023, Leong Guan launched its own direct-to-consumer channel with the e-commerce platform The Picky Grocer. Building on consumers’ growing appetite for quick and convenient options, the company introduced ready-to-eat meals in 2024, including nonya dry laksa and Korean japchae.
With its multi-pronged growth, Leong Guan is now the island’s largest fresh noodle manufacturer, serving over 2,000 commercial customers across the HORECA sector (hotels, restaurants and cafés), food court operators, hawker stalls, schools and hospitals. Its products are also sold across Asia, Australia, North America, the Middle East and Europe.
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Its business is organised into three segments: self-manufactured products, trading products and OEM products. The self-manufactured product unit is its core business, contributing around 60% or nearly $22.4 million to its FY2024 revenue. These noodle-based and soy bean-based products are manufactured at Leong Guan’s factories and primarily sold under the LG brand. It also includes white label offerings that are sold by other brands.
The trading products division, meanwhile, generates $8.34 million in turnover, accounting for 22% of the total. Through this division, Leong Guan supplies third-party manufactured products that are marketed and sold under their respective brands. The range includes items such as surimi, frozen foods and bean sprouts.
Finally, OEM products, which are also mostly third-party noodle-based and soy bean-based items sold under the LG brand, contributed roughly 18% or $6.8 million to overall revenue.
Over the past few years, Leong Guan has enjoyed consistent revenue growth. In its FY2023, revenue reached $33.8 million, up nearly 7% over the preceding year. In FY2024, revenue increased by a further 11% over FY2023 to reach $37.5 million. Its earnings, however, did not follow a similar trajectory, with FY2023 seeing a slight dip to $1.2 million from $1.3 million in FY2022, before rebounding to $1.7 million in FY2024. For the quarter ended March 2025, Leong Guan reported unaudited revenue and net profit of around $9.4 million and $232,000, respectively.
Lim believes he is running a resilient business. The company sells a consumer staple, which by nature ensures stable demand, and it faces no concentration risk, with no single customer accounting for more than 3% of sales.
In recent years, with inflation an issue because of global supply chain and energy woes, Lim finds changes in raw material and labour costs “manageable”, and that the costs of wheat and rice — the key ingredients — are generally “stable”. The company says this has helped keep its products affordable, sustaining strong demand.
Capacity growth
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The company now operates two factories: one in Woodlands, covering 3,000 sq m, for noodle production; and a second in Aljunied, spanning around 230 sq m, for soy bean-based products. By next June, Leong Guan plans to move all soy bean-based production to a new Woodlands facility of over 1,500 sq m, giving the company greater capacity to meet growing demand, including for exports.
To fund its new Woodlands factory, Leong Guan becomes the last company to list on the Singapore Exchange this year. Via an all-placement issue at 23 cents each, Leong Guan has raised net proceeds of $2.15 million. Substantial shareholders include Sheng Siong CEO Lim Hock Chee and former chairman of Tai Sin Electric, Bobby Lim. On Dec 11, Leong Guan shares opened at 24.5 cents on its trading debut and ended the day at 24 cents, valuing the company at $24.3 million.
When asked whether Leong Guan could have sought to raise more capital through this listing, Lim says the company is taking a longer-term view. He adds that senior management is nearing retirement, and as a listed company, he believes Leong Guan can attract and develop a new generation of managerial talent, taking the business to the next level and ensuring it thrives for another 50 years.
For now, Leong Guan does not have a formal dividend policy. However, the company aims to pay out at least 80% of the FY2025 earnings and at least 35% of FY2026 earnings. Lim believes that by doing so, he can strike a “balance” between rewarding shareholders and using funds for business growth. He believes that Leong Guan is a defensive stock as its business is “economy resilient”.
However, he also expects the company to grow over the next three to five years and is actively looking for opportunities. He notes that many potential targets are family-owned businesses with no successors, making the existing owners more willing to sell. Should such acquisition opportunities arise, Leong Guan can then turn to the markets for additional funding.
Lim adds: “We’re confident we can grow. And we are always lucky. You know, sometimes businesses need luck, and when opportunity comes, we need to grab them.” For him, the listing is just the beginning. “Our job [now] is to prove ourselves and grow.”
