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Success stories
ASCO Growth and diversification inspired by international markets in service and safety. For France, safe, reliable and efficient service needed to be the core of ASCO’s offering. Fraser Stewart, Managing Director – International
How is ASCO thriving? ASCO is successfully finding inspiration in its people, offering safe, lean, efficient and sustainable end-toend logistics solutions. Having appointed a new CEO, Peter France, in 2018, the company has transformed its prospects through a renewed strategy underpinned by an emphasis on safety, service and sustainability, and a more focussed approach to international growth. The challenge Created in 1967, ASCO has developed an esteemed reputation as a leading logistics and materials management company for the global energy industry. Providing a range of services, ASCO is an established and highly regarded enterprise. The company has been working to expand its operational footprint into its first new international locations since 2013, which has come with challenges around resources, training and local content requirements. Additionally, operating in a cyclical sector, ASCO experienced particularly highly competitive price market during the last Oil & Gas downturn and a change in management has served to steady the ship, return to growth and set ASCO on a new, more prosperous path. The solution Since Peter France came on board as CEO in 2018, he pivoted the company’s strategic focus towards excellence
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EIC Survive and Thrive
From that point on, the firm no longer aimed to differentiate based on price but on service. By doing a much better job, ASCO would get a better return through better client relationships. Sustainability also became a core focus under France from the end of 2019 onwards, not just from an environmental perspective, but equally looking at raising the longer-term value of the business. Overall business performance was improving, underpinned by a culture of respect and equality. However, some early speed bumps were encountered. ASCO faced a difficult situation when the covid pandemic arrived, the firm erring on the side of caution in opting to request that higher paid staff take a temporary pay cut. This helped limit the number of long-term headcount reductions to less than 10% of global staff. These difficult decisions ultimately paid dividends, with 2020 turning out not to be as gloomy as originally foreseen and subsequent years returning to sustainable growth and the recruitment of additional heads. More recently, the war in Ukraine has also pushed the company to be more reactive. Where ASCO had previously been looking at diversifying away from oil and gas, it is now anticipated to continue to be the majority of ASCO’s business for at least the next decade, with oil and gas continuing to offer business opportunities in a tough market. Beyond these reactive responses, perhaps the most significant change for ASCO in the past half decade has been its approach to international growth. Prior to 2018, the company had taken what can only be described as a scattergun approach to international markets, reacting to any inquiry, no matter where it originated from.
2023