Specialty Fashion Group has appointed Munraj Dhaliwal, the current head of strategy and corporate development, to the position of chief financial officer, replacing Tim Fawaz who has been in the role since July 2017. Fawaz will remain in place until after the results for the first half of fiscal 2019 have been delivered, with Dhaliwal taking over as CFO in February. Dhaliwal has worked closely with Fawaz since joining the company this past March, particularly on the recent spate of divestme
nts.
Specialty Fashion has seen a lot of movement at the top in recent times, with chief executive Daniel Bracken taking the helm in February from Gary Perlstein.
The company spent the first part of this year conducting a structural review of its brand portfolio, and ended up selling loss-making imprints Millers, Katies, Crossroads, Autograph, and Rivers to Noni B for $31 million, retaining only its strongest brand, City Chic.
At the time of the sale, Specialty Fashion told The Australian Financial Review that the proceeds would be used to strengthen its balance sheet, fund store and digital growth and expansion into new categories and possibly enable the company, which has $50 million in franking credits, to resume paying franked dividends.
Dhaliwal has a background in corporate advisory and investment banking in Sydney and in London with Luminis Partners, the Royal Bank of Canada and Lonergan Edwards.
