Who is Ashley? No idea, the company was founded by Ross Shrimpton, a chartered accountant, who is the current MD and holds more than half the stock on issue.

Shares have been on a tear, up nearly 10% this well, over 25% this month and 50%+ in the last 12 months.

This is quite a simple business to understand. It’s labour hire and training provider but for specific sectors delivered by 7 brands for labour and another 5 for training. The services are in supply/ logistics, civil, construction, aged care, and rail amongst other similar industries. 

We are living in strange recruitment times. Check the unemployment rate, and if you have attempted to recruit recently you will know the market is tough out there (for employers). This makes me wonder how much of the current Ashley tear is pandemic based and it may be unwound when borders reopen.

It looks like the labour hire (main) part of the business is enjoying comparatively high margins currently on the back of the tight labour market.

The training division delivers higher margins however it is only a small part of the overall business. 

It would have been good to have seen this business before the current run, but so would having a crystal ball. 

The business has been in operation for over 50 years to so am I to argue, however, the reopening risk/impact, recent share run, plus numerous competitors put this one in the too hard basket for me.