ASGN Inc. (NYSE: ASGN), a provider of IT services and solutions, reported second-quarter revenue fell 1.0% year over year to $1.13 billion. Revenue in the Richmond, Virginia-based firm’s commercial segment fell 4.6%, while revenue in its federal government segment rose 9.8%.

Revenue was above the midpoint of guidance and was supported by growth in the company’s high-end, higher-value commercial and federal consulting businesses, ASGN CEO Ted Hanson said in press release.

“While macro conditions remain challenging, we continue to see demand for our IT services and solutions,” Hanson said. “This is particularly evident in the strength of our consulting bookings for the quarter.”

The company’s commercial segment provides IT and marketing/creative staffing. It also provides consulting services. The federal government segment provides IT services to US government customers.

Federal government segment revenue was boosted by the acquisition of Iron Vine. Revenue in the segment rose 1.1% excluding the acquisition.

While commercial segment revenue fell 4.6% year over year, ASGN noted that revenue from commercial consulting — the largest of the company’s high-margin revenue streams — rose 26.5% in the quarter to $281.1 million. Excluding the $27.7 million contribution from its GlideFast acquisition, consulting revenue grew 14.1% year-over-year.

Overall, revenue in the second quarter included approximately $52.9 million from businesses acquired in the past 12 months.

Guidance

ASGN forecast third-quarter revenue to be down year over year by between 6.5% and 8.2%.

“We expect macro conditions to again be challenging in [the third quarter] for the commercial segment, which includes both assignment and consulting services, partially offset by growth in the federal government segment,” CFO Marie Perry said in a conference call with analysts on Wednesday. “In addition to the difficult year-over-year comparison, in commercial consulting we do face changes in the pace of work stretching project durations.”

Share price and market cap

Shares in ASGN were down 0.05% to $79.38 as of 1:41 p.m. Eastern time today; they were 25.46% above their 52-week low, according to FT.com. The company had a market cap of $3.92 billion.