James Stewart
Partner, Turnaround and Restructuring National Leader, Consumer and Retail
Background
James has c.38 years of restructuring and turnaround experience. For 25 years James was a Partner of Ferrier Hodgson, one of Australia’s leading boutique turnaround and restructuring businesses. Ferrier Hodgson was acquired by KPMG in 2019. At the time of the acquisition he was National Leader and Chairman of Partners.
James has served as a member of KPMG Australia’s National Board and held various executive management positions including the National Leader of the Turnaround and Restructuring practice between 2019 and 2023.
James is one of Australia’s leading retail restructuring specialists and is the Global Retail Restructuring Leader for KPMG.
James has advised numerous company Boards facing organisational change or financial stress. He is experienced in working collaboratively with management to manage difficult situations and develop practical turnaround plans to achieve stakeholder objectives.
James is the co-editor of the annual Australian Retail Outlook published by Inside Retail Magazine, a co-author of KPMG’s flagship Retail Health Index, a data driven quarterly perspective on the future health of Australia’s retail sector and a regular commentator on the challenges and opportunities facing retail brands.
Advisory experience
•Advisor to the Australian Board of a global retail households goods conglomerate ($15bn Euro global sales: AUD$2bn sales) after an accounting crisis caused financial stakeholders to threaten to withdraw support. The business avoided insolvency and entered into a consensual restructure and sale of its business units.
•Advisor to Board of an ASX listed value retailer challenged by sustained underperformance. Business avoided insolvency and returned to profitability.
•Advisor to the Board of major Australian department store (AUD$3bn in sales) impacted by COVID 19.
•Trusted advisor to major Australian financial institutions on their exposure to retail and consumer businesses in Australia and NZ.
Restructuring experience
•Administrator/Receiver of many high profile Australian brands such as; Dick Smith Electronics; Jeanswest; Colorado Group; Australian Discount Retail; Sportsgirl/Sportscraft Group; Payless Shoes; Australian Music Group (Billy Hyde Music); Topshop; Wow Sight & Sound; Harris Scarfe (senior leadership role) and BWX Ltd, a $270m specialist skincare products (Sukin) manufacturer.