Generation next

When James Gowing was working at accounting and advisory firm William Buck, he remembers something poignant a previous boss told him: the success of family businesses comes from the owner or the head of the family becoming a custodian because they look to hand over to the next generation something better than they had.

It was an adage that stayed with Gowing and an undercurrent of how Gowings Bros has been able to thrive across generations. Each successive heir at the helm achieved significant milestones and triumphed over the harshest economic and market shocks throughout its 158-year history.

What stands today is a multi-generational legacy, a principal wealth creation and preservation vehicle that boasts a mix of in-house brands, diversified assets and philanthropic deeds under the stewardship of the fourth and fifth generations.

From humble beginnings, John Ellis (J.E.) Gowing migrated to Australia in 1857 with only £400 to his name. He set out to be a farmer. But land prices around Bathurst shot up and became too expensive thanks to the gold rush. Instead, he became a merchant in Sydney.

Born as a drapery shop in 1868, J.E. Gowing opened the first shop front on Crown Street.  He then joined forces with his brother Preston Gowing in a mercery warehouse on George Street. They moved the flagship store some years later to Market Street, homed in a 12-storey Commercial Palazzo-style building that still bears the blue, red and white Gowings sign. The building was sold in 2006 to  Amalgamated Holdings (now EVT) and part of the deal meant retaining the iconic sign.

Pioneering and championing Australian-made goods, the company became synonymous with retail. Behind the scenes, though, it was broadening its investment horizon.

By 1924, J.E. Gowing's brother, Preston Gowing, was one of 20 foundation investors in Woolworths. In 1953, his son Ted Gowing decided to invest in shares and government bonds rather than expand the retail business. With £30,000, he started an investment portfolio.

By that point, Gowing Bros' longevity was something to behold, overcoming some of history's greatest economic calamities and armed conflicts, namely Australia's Great Depression, the Boer War and World War I and II.

In the early 2000s, Gowing Bros embarked on a new trajectory that would separate the retail business from its investment business.

On 5 November 2001, Gowings Retail listed on the ASX, pivoting as a wealth management company. Today, Gowing Bros (ASX: GOW) is one of the oldest ASX-listed companies, operating as a small-cap, family office.

Great-grandson John Gowing, representing the fourth generation, serves as chair and managing director.

"My dad has turned the business into something significant from something small. Some of that is from good timing. Some of his investment picks have been serendipitous, such as when we sold the building in 2006 in the lead up to the GFC," Gowing says.

All the proceeds were invested in bonds. Then the crash happened. The investment doubled in value.

About the same time one of their buildings in the city turned into three shopping centres as developers, such as Mirvac and Scentre Group, were selling down assets. These were scooped up at "ridiculously low prices like 10% to 20% in some cases."

The company has a track record of seizing the right investment opportunities when they present themselves and enviable foresight of knowing when to respond to them.

Also core to its success is a culture centered on Australian family values, a positive and entrepreneurial spirit, putting customers first and caring for the environment and community.

"Family values - honesty, integrity and loyalty - looking after others and making a positive impact have been important in our business," Gowing says.

Rising generation

Numbers come naturally to James Gowing. A knack for numbers led to studying accounting and marketing at the University of Technology Sydney.

He majored in marketing and learned a lot about pricing and tactics and psychology, which provided a good, rounded foundation to balance out the accounting and numbers.

Participating in a study-abroad program at Northwood University, Gowing, together with some other students, went on business secondments in India and China.

"We saw the lay of the land of how businesses there operated. It was an interesting time to see how the older, traditional businesses and the new, emerging businesses operate," he says.

"We visited a pharmaceutical company in India and a beer company in China. We learned a lot about geopolitics and the history of the parties. It was an interesting, amazing experience in terms of learning about different cultures and how companies function."

In between studies, Gowing worked as an intern at a boutique insolvency firm and was an accounting assistant at Gowing Bros. He then spent six years at William Buck, first in audit and then as a senior accountant.

In October 2020, he moved to the family business as chief financial officer. He soon took on an executive director of finance role, where he currently develops relationships with financers, shareholders and key stakeholders.

"I also manage the finance team, with two direct reports, and oversee monthly reporting and yearly reporting etc. and overall make sure that we are financially viable," he explains.

"My role now involves a lot of face-to-face interactions and meeting people, so it has changed a lot. It's no longer putting together the financial statements and reconciling cash flow."

Admittedly, he misses a bit of the number crunching but still reviews the accounts and stays on top of the disclosures and material events.

Under his leadership, one of his main objectives was to move the finance function from Pyrmont in Sydney to Coffs Harbour where there are already operations in place.

"It was a big job to move operations, such as servers etc., but we now have a team set up there," Gowing shares.

"I go back and forth between Coffs Harbour and Sydney. I travel to Coffs Harbour once a month for a week and sometimes more often if required."

Carrying the torch for the fifth generation, Gowing is joined by his two brothers who also work in the company.

He credits his father not only for showing him the ropes of the business and investing, but for passing on  strong personal and family values and life lessons.

"I have been lucky to have a good father who brought us up and instilled his values in us. Sometimes working with family can be tough, I'm not going to lie, but he's been one of my best mentors and biggest supporters," Gowing says.

Strength in diversification

The company has branched out since its early days in retail but still stays true to its roots.

Subregional and neighbourhood shopping centres, Kempsey Central, Port Central and Coffs Central, are top performers and were valued at $190 million as at mid-2025.

One standout is the Port Macquarie asset, which Gowing describes as "having gone gangbusters."

Gowing predicts the Coffs Harbour property will also do very well but may take a bit longer.

"We have a residential development site, Sawtell Commons, which has performed phenomenally. We've turned a $20 million feasibility project into about $50 million," he adds.

Gowing Bros is a major investor in Cobram Estate (CBO), having held a stake since its pre-IPO. Starting out as a small business in 1998, ASX-listed CBO now boasts 2.6 million trees across 7000 hectares of olive groves across Australia and the US.

"We invested a total of $2 million in CBO, and it is now worth $30 million. It recently acquired California Olive Ranch, a producer of extra virgin olive oil, to increase scale and capacity," he says.

The $250 million acquisition of California Olive Ranch places CBO as a formidable player in the local and global olive oil industry.

"The company is only going the get stronger and stronger," Gowings adds.

A few years ago, Gowing Bros invested in Eftsure, which provides a bank detail verification service that minimises the risk of fraudulent invoices being paid. That investment grew from $500,000 to $3 million.

Listed equities are also prominent in the portfolio. These companies are predominantly in the US, while smaller investments in Europe and Japan in companies, like Toyota and Sanofi, are in the mix.

"We invested in a company called DICE Therapeutics pre-IPO, which then listed on the NASDAQ. Eli Lilly took over the company in 2023. Our stake went from $1 million to $10 million," he says.

The portfolio also features unlisted assets, which were valued at $16 million as at FY25.

SpaceX, which operates Starlink and Starshield, and xAI, a competitor to ChatGPT and OpenAI, are some examples.

The company has long championed local heroes, such as Blackmores, an investment that went from $2 million to $20 million. It remains agnostic to the type of industry and geography an investee company operates in, although, it is guided by a mantra that underscores investment decisions, which is: don't invest in things that are a detriment to the human race, such as gambling.

"We have had a lot of success, but we've had some write-downs along the way. We don't always get it right. But we often get it right more times than we get it wrong," Gowing says, noting that some that did not do as well were biotechnology company Hexima and NSX.

Gowing sees the critical role technology and artificial intelligence (AI) will play in people's everyday life and is ardent for opportunities in this space that can be reflected in the portfolio.

"I have been pushing to invest in technology stocks. We are getting there. Our portfolio has more tech companies now, our venture capital assets focus on technology, and the investment in SpaceX shows that," he explains.

"With the way the world is heading, investing in technology is not something we want to lose sight of."

And the family will, by no means, turn its back on property.

"Property is a fantastic, safe investment. Historically, we love property, particularly the retail sector, and will continue to do so," Gowing says.

"But we're seeing a shift towards technology and how technology can be implemented. There are great retail companies that also have a focus on technology, like Amazon, which has a significant market share in the online delivery space. So, we're keeping an eye out for those sorts of opportunities."

Geopolitical and macroeconomic risks continue to threaten financial stability across the globe. The tensions in the Middle East, at the time of writing, remain unpredictable and keep investors on their toes just as markets recover from the aftermath of Covid and businesses try to mitigate the impact of US President Donald Trump's tariff war.

"With inflation rising and with the Middle East conflict playing out, interest rates are also tipped to increase. With CPI rising and cost of living increasing, retailers are forced to increase prices," he says. "Consumers tend to spend less on discretionary items such as fashion."

Gowings Surf Hardware International (GSHI), which manufactures popular surf sport-related brands, such as FCS, Gorilla Grip, Softech, Kanulock and Hydro, has navigated some challenging conditions thanks to high interest rates, and uncertainty stemming from Trump's tariff agenda. In the last financial year, however, it was buoyed by domestic market demand pushing revenue to $37 million.

"Tariffs are also something the retail sector finds challenging and something we are managing," he says. "Gowing Bros has a team dedicated to looking at the tariffs, interest rates and geopolitics and so forth, navigating the business through these headwinds."

GSHI has pivoted in response to these challenges. It is diversifying its supply chain away from China and releasing from long-term antiquated supplier relationships.

Part of this means "operational cost efficiencies will be achieved with the move of Alvey manufacturing to Coffs Harbour and planning continues with building a purpose-built warehouse and manufacturing facility to meet our goal of substantive local production in the Coffs Harbour region," according to the 2025 annual report.

Diversification proves to be one of Gowing Bros' key strengths.

"Diversifying means that we're not overly exposed to one sector. At one point, we only had retail assets and didn't have any other investments," he says.

"Now, we're diversified across asset classes in property, gold and shares, as well as geographically diversified. We started investing in gold pre-Covid and that has done very well."

Passion, purpose and philanthropy

The family established the Gowings Whale Trust in 2001 to help preserve and promote whale populations, and by extension, solve sea biodiversity and uphold cleanliness.

The trust works with Sea Shepherd, a marine conservation non-profit that protects defenceless marine wildlife all over the world, donating a watercraft and funding its work to stop krill harvesting in the Antarctic.

"That activity leads to less food for whales in one of the regions they migrate to. There are other ways to obtain omega three from plants and seaweed and does not necessarily have to be from whales," he says.

"We are currently talking about expanding the charity's remit to initiatives that are environmentally focused."

The trust has also worked with not-for-profit Plastic Collective and supported research projects into whales. It recently purchased a new whale substation at Diggers Camp, which will be used to monitor and evaluate migration patterns.

Broadly, the company is digging deep into its sustainability efforts and aims to reach net zero as soon as feasibly possible.

"Across the companies, solar panels have been fitted at all Gowing Bros sites, we use green materials and have moved our businesses away from plastics to recycled plastics and invest in assets that offset emissions," Gowing says.

"So, we believe in the green future and always look for opportunities where we can make energy efficient and carbon neutral."

Port Central and Coffs Central have recycling and coffee cup separation bins. Coffs Central has an organic composter that diverts food waste from landfill and a rooftop garden, while Kempsey Central now has a 99KW solar system installed that significantly reduces the centre's carbon emissions.

Across the Gowing Bros centres, Sea Shepherd's merchandise is also promoted across shops to raise awareness of its cause.

"The family has always been passionate about the sea and believes that a healthy maritime means a healthy country," Gowing says.

"I love surfing and swimming and living by the ocean. You have to look after what you love."