DT Group was founded in 1896 in Aarhus, the “capital” of the Jutland region of Denmark, when two local firms founded Aarhus Trælasthandel, the first name of the Group.

This was the start of a long and eventful era of extensive national expansion. During this time, the Group made an important name change to the less local and more national name of Det Danske Trælastkompagni A/S, and the company’s shares were listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange in 1933.

In the 1960s, the building boom and the rise of the single-family home in the suburbs brought about the concept of Do-It-Yourself (DIY). This laid a solid foundation for the Group’s first Silvan DIY store, which opened in Slagelse in 1968. The Silvan Chain has enjoyed good growth ever since, and in 1997 the chain expanded its market area from just Denmark to encompass Sweden as well.

Concurrently with its ever-growing focus on the national market for private consumers, the Group also expanded in the market for professional customers, acquiring one builders’ merchant after another and incorporating them in its rapidly growing family of businesses.

In 1989, the Group expanded its position in the Nordic market for the first time. This was done through the acquisition of the Swedish chain “Beijer Byggmaterial”, which with its then 37 stores became a division of the Group.  Seven years later – in 1996 – Norwegian-based Neumann Bygg became a new member of the Group, and in July 2000 the Group expanded into Finland by acquiring Starkki.

Before then, the Group had changed its name to Danske Trælast A/S in connection with its 100th anniversary.

After a long time as a listed company, Danske Trælast A/S was taken over by a number of private equity funds in the summer of 2003 under the name of DT Group A/S and was delisted from the Copenhagen Stock Exchange. As part of the effort to internationalise the Group, the name Danske Trælast was changed in 2006 to the less tongue-twisting name of DT Group A/S.

List of milestones - click here