GXO is reportedly exploring a sale, which would potentially put the $6 billion logistics services provider in the hands of a new owner.

Bloomberg first reported on the possible transaction Wednesday, saying that the Greenwich, Conn.-based company began to review its options after receiving interest from potential buyers. GXO is working with financial advisers on the deal to field the interest, with a Reuters report indicating that suitors include rival logistics providers.

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No final decision has been made and GXO could opt to remain independent, the report said.

Sourcing Journal reached out to GXO.

In Thursday morning trading, GXO’s shares shot up more than 14 percent on the report. Company stock has largely disappointed throughout the duration of the freight recession, in which overall freight and warehousing demand has declined since pandemic-driven early-to-mid 2022 peaks. GXO hit a high stock point at $101.04 per share on Nov. 19, 2021, ahead of 2022’s logistics bear market, since declining more than 42 percent.

Although GXO has recently touted more than $300 million in new contract wins for 2025, revenue growth for the contract logistics provider has been fueled largely by its acquisitions in recent years.

The company had a 2 percent organic revenue bump in its second quarter, with much of its total 19 percent revenue bump to $2.8 billion coming from its $965 million acquisition of U.K.-based logistics services company Wincanton. When GXO reported earnings in August, UBS said the 2 percent organic revenue growth is “indicative of GXO’s business momentum continuing.”

The organic growth outpaced the 1 percent increase in the quarter prior, but the first two quarters are thus far undershooting the company’s initial 2024 guidance, which called for organic growth of 2 percent to 5 percent.

Organic revenue growth increased 2.3 percent throughout 2023 to $9.2 billion, with deals pushing total revenue growth up 8.7 percent to $9.8 billion.

Net income for GXO in the second quarter was $39 million.

Regardless of financial results, GXO was more upbeat in its August earnings call, with CEO Malcolm Wilson saying it is seeing continental Europe- and U.K.-based customers “grow more confident and launch new and larger projects,” which “bodes well for our future growth.

The logistics services company, which already partners with Nike, H&M, Asos and Zara—the final three being headquartered in Europe—got another big overseas win earlier this year in teaming with Levi Strauss & Co. for a 20-year, near-$1 billion contract.

Earlier this summer, GXO began managing operations at the denim giant’s 750,000-square-foot distribution center in Dorsten, Germany.

GXO also got another major apparel win in 2024 with the deployment of a large-scale robotics solution in Europe for a “major global sporting goods retailer” in France—presumably Decathlon.

Within North America, GXO is still currently seeing softer demand for goods, Wilson said. But the CEO indicated that the company has signed record new business wins in the first half of this year in the region

Overall, the logistics industry still hasn’t fully recovered from the impacts of the weakened volume demand in recent years, alongside excess capacity across trucking and rail. Both major U.S. logistics firms, UPS and FedEx, are undergoing consolidation efforts that are designed to streamline the business and cut billions in expenses.

“2024 has been a tough year for many transport technology companies, as exhibited by sizeable layoffs, as they seek to achieve scalable growth,” said Dr. Tom Goldsby, professor and Haslam Chair of Logistics at the University of Tennessee.

A GXO selloff would come as warehouse- and fulfillment-related deals are in a bit of a trough.

Warehousing and fulfillment mergers and acquisitions M&A volume through Aug. 21, totaled 29 transactions announced or completed, down 9.4 percent year-over-year from 32 deals in the prior year, according to Capstone Partners. By that time in 2021, 95 transactions were made, while 68 were made by the August cutoff in 2022.

While this sector’s deals have been hard to come by, a GXO takeover would follow one massive logistics acquisition between European freight forwarders—DSV acquired DB Schenker from German railroad Deutsch Bahn for $16 billion.

GXO itself is the result of a spinoff from XPO Logistics in August 2021, in which the former would focus on contract logistics and warehouse management. while the latter would take over trucking and freight transportation. The next year, XPO spun off another part of its business, digital trucking brokerage RXO.

GXO will report third quarter earnings on Nov. 5.