First-quarter revenue at ASGN Inc. (NYSE: ASGN), formerly On Assignment, rose 9.4% or 9.2% on a same billable day and constant currency basis. Revenue in its Apex segment rose 11.6% and revenue in its Oxford segment rose 1.8%. The Calabasas, Calif.-based firm provide staffing and services in IT, creative/digital, engineering, life sciences and the government sector.

Gross margin improved thanks to lower state unemployment tax rates and a slightly higher mix of higher-margin business in certain divisions, ASGN reported.

Quote

“Our acquisition of ECS, which closed on April 2nd, strengthens our position as one of the largest and fastest-growing IT services firms in North America and increases our addressable end market to $279 billion by virtue of our entering the $129 billion Government Services space,” CEO Peter Dameris said. “ECS, which prior to the acquisition was one of the largest privately held government services contractors in the United States, is well positioned to benefit from increased spending by the federal government on next generation, mission critical technology solutions, including cyber security, data analytics, artificial intelligence and cloud integration.”

Revenue by segment

Permanent placement revenue

Gross margin by segment

Average bill rates

Guidance

ASGN forecast second-quarter revenue to grow between 7.7% and 9.0% on a pro forma basis — assuming the acquisition of ECS occurred at the beginning of 2017.

Share price and market cap

Shares in ASGN edged down 0.55% to $81.93 as of 1:15 p.m. Eastern time today. The company had a market cap of approximately $4.28 billion.