Ashley Services buys a $162Mn labour-hire book
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — Ashley Services Group Limited has completed the acquisition of a US$104 million (AU$162 million) annual labor hire revenue book from an unnamed Australian logistics company through its subsidiary Action Workforce.
The deal is structured as 1% of sales generated by transferring customers over two years and funded through Westpac bank financing and internal cash flow.
Action Workforce absorbs logistics labor contracts and workforce
The acquired book comprises the external labor hire customer contracts, relationships, and associated workforce previously held by the logistics operator, expanding Action Workforce’s footprint in staff augmentation and industrial workforce solutions across Australia’s supply chain sector.
According to a report from Staffing Industry, Ashley Services structured the acquisition on a revenue-share basis, with the purchase price payable in two annual cash installments in arrears, limiting upfront capital outlay while the customer book transfers.
Ross Shrimpton, Managing Director at Ashley Services, said the deal would “strengthen its business offering” by bringing new customers to the company’s “core supply chain, warehousing and logistics” labor hire market, along with experienced staff and an existing operational workforce.
Acquisition expected to lift earnings in FY2027 for Ashley Services
Ashley Services, headquartered in Sydney and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) under the ticker ASH, has built its growth record on bolt-on acquisitions in the logistics and industrial labor hire market across Australia.
Action Workforce, the Ashley subsidiary through which the deal was executed, will absorb the acquired customer relationships and workforce within its existing supply chain staffing operations.
Shrimpton added that the transaction is expected to be accretive to earnings per share (EPS) in the financial year ending June 30, 2027.
The Ashley Services deal reflects the active consolidation occurring across Australia’s labor hire and outsourcing sector, where national staffing groups are acquiring regional workforce books to build scale in supply chain and logistics operations.
The business process outsourcing (BPO) model underlying labor hire, in which companies externalize their variable workforce to specialist providers, has gained traction as Australian logistics operators seek to reduce permanent staffing risk amid fluctuating freight volumes.
For outsourcing providers, revenue-share acquisition structures such as Ashley’s 1% earn-out format offer a lower-risk path to absorbing established workforce books without upfront capital exposure.
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