SINGAPORE — A familiar name in Singapore’s fitness industry is disappearing from the market. True Fitness and True Yoga have ceased operations, with their parent company blaming mounting losses, fierce competition, rising customer-acquisition costs and growing financial pressure.
The shutdown affects the Singapore businesses operating the True Fitness, TFX and Yoga Edition brands, which together had 10 fitness and yoga outlets in the country.
Hong Kong-listed Kontafarma China Holdings, the parent company, said the businesses could no longer continue because of their liabilities. Provisional liquidators Goh Wee Teck and Lin Yueh Hung of RSM SG Corporate Advisory have been appointed, beginning the winding-up process.
The development marks a dramatic reversal for a fitness group that has operated in Singapore for more than two decades.
From gym giant to sudden shutdown
The closure came quickly for many customers.
The Business Times reported that all outlets ceased operations with immediate effect, with notices posted at branches informing members of the development. At the True Fitness outlet at Velocity@Novena Square, the landlord had also repossessed the premises on the night of Sept. 9. Some customers reportedly arrived at the gym unaware that it had already closed.
Employees were also caught up in the sudden development. According to The Business Times, the company’s human resources department informed staff on Sept. 10 that provisional liquidators had been appointed and asked employees to report to the company’s Claymore Hill office for further instructions.
The group’s Singapore fitness business employed 257 people at the end of 2025, down from 281 a year earlier, according to Kontafarma’s annual report.
The numbers reveal how deep the crisis had become
The financial figures paint a stark picture.
For the year ended Dec. 31, 2025, the True Singapore Group recorded revenue of about HK$181.2 million, but suffered a loss of approximately HK$34.3 million.
Its financial position deteriorated further in 2026.
For the first eight months of this year, the business generated around HK$118.4 million in revenue but recorded a HK$19.1 million loss.
As of Aug. 31, the group had approximately HK$204.5 million in assets against HK$633.8 million in liabilities, leaving net liabilities of roughly HK$429.3 million.
The Business Times similarly reported the HK$19.1 million loss for the first eight months of 2026 and highlighted the group’s substantial liabilities.
The parent company had already warned of significant liquidity pressure and said it had provided cash and financial support in an effort to keep the Singapore fitness operations going.
But the additional funding was not enough.
Why the business failed to turn around
Kontafarma pointed to a combination of structural pressures rather than one single problem.
The biggest was intensifying competition.
Traditional commercial gyms are now competing with a much broader fitness ecosystem, including boutique studios, condominium and residential gyms, online training programs, fitness apps, video platforms and virtual coaching.
For consumers, that means there are more ways than ever to exercise without committing to a traditional large-scale gym membership.
Kontafarma said these changes made customer acquisition increasingly difficult while the business continued to face high operating expenses and tight cash flow. The company described the challenges confronting the True Singapore Group as “unprecedented.”
This is a significant warning for the wider fitness industry.
The traditional gym model depends heavily on attracting and retaining enough members to cover expensive physical locations, equipment, staffing and maintenance.
But the market has changed.
Consumers can now choose smaller specialized gyms, train inside their residential developments or work out at home using relatively inexpensive digital services.
A long-running brand under pressure
True Group was established in Singapore in 2004 and grew into a regional fitness and wellness operator.
Its Singapore operations eventually included True Fitness, True Yoga, TFX and Yoga Edition.
The group also has a complicated history of expansion and restructuring.
In 2017, Hong Kong-listed Tongfang Kontafarma acquired stakes in the group’s Singapore companies as part of a broader expansion strategy. Earlier regional operations in Malaysia and Thailand subsequently closed. A 2022 Singapore High Court ruling also found that True Group’s former CEO had breached duties in connection with the management of those closures.
That history is relevant because the latest Singapore shutdown is not simply a temporary branch closure—it represents the liquidation of the companies behind a major part of the group’s Singapore fitness operation.
What happens to the companies now?
The provisional liquidators have taken control of the affairs, businesses and property of True Fitness and True Yoga.
Kontafarma said the powers of the companies’ directors cease once the provisional liquidation takes effect.
The next major step is scheduled for Oct. 7, when extraordinary general meetings will be held to propose a creditors’ voluntary winding-up. Meetings with creditors will follow.
The parent company also said the True Singapore Group owed the wider Kontafarma group approximately HK$309.7 million as of Aug. 31.
The final amount remains subject to the liquidators’ assessment, while any recovery will depend on assets realised and the statutory priority of creditors. True Fitness also owed a bank about S$2.3 million, under a loan for which Kontafarma had provided a guarantee.
What this means for Singapore’s fitness market
The collapse of True Fitness and True Yoga illustrates how dramatically the fitness business has changed.
The industry’s challenge is no longer simply getting people to exercise.
It is convincing consumers to pay for a physical membership when alternatives are everywhere.
Boutique studios offer specialized experiences. Residential gyms eliminate travel. Online platforms offer inexpensive workouts. Apps provide personalized programs. Virtual coaches can deliver training from almost anywhere.
At the same time, operators of large physical facilities must absorb rent, manpower, equipment and maintenance costs regardless of how many members walk through the doors.
For True Singapore, that combination proved unsustainable despite financial support from its parent company.
Kontafarma said liquidation would allow it to redirect resources toward its pharmaceutical business, which accounted for the majority of group revenue and assets in the first half of 2026.
The bigger warning behind the shutdown
The disappearance of True Fitness and True Yoga is more than another corporate closure.
It is a snapshot of an industry undergoing a major transformation.
For years, the traditional gym membership was built around a simple proposition: pay a recurring fee and use a physical facility whenever you want.
Today, consumers have countless alternatives.
And when rising costs collide with weaker customer demand, even a long-established fitness brand can find itself running out of room to maneuver.
True Fitness and True Yoga are now entering liquidation—but the bigger question is whether other traditional fitness operators can avoid facing the same pressures in an increasingly fragmented market.
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