ASGN Inc. (NYSE: ASGN) reported a boost from consulting revenue in the first quarter, but assignment revenue at the Richmond, Virginia-based firm slipped.

Overall, total revenue at ASGN fell 7.1% year over year in the first quarter to approximately $1.05 billion.

The company said assignment revenue in its commercial segment — which includes IT and marketing/creative staffing — fell 18.9% year over year to $454.5 million. However, commercial segment consulting revenue rose 2.0% year over year to $277.0 million.

In addition, first-quarter revenue in the company’s federal government segment — which includes only consulting revenue — rose 7.0% year over year to $317.5 million.

“Revenues of $1.05 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $108.3 million were both near the top end of our guidance ranges,” CEO Ted Hanson said in a press release. “A highlight of our quarterly performance, IT consulting revenues continued to grow and totaled 56.7% of consolidated revenues, up from 50.4% in the prior year.”

Still, clients are cautious with their IT spend, Hanson said.

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Guidance

ASGN forecast second-quarter revenue would be down by between 6.8% and 8.5%.

Share price

Shares in ASGN were down 1.7% to $100.37 as of 11:47 a.m. Eastern time today. They were 5.69% below their 52-week high.