Revenue at BG Staffing Inc. (NYSE MKT: BGSF) rose 3.2% in the first quarter. Gross margin improved at the Plano, Texas-based staffing provider. Revenue rose in the company’s real estate and light industrial segments, but fell in its professional staffing segment

Second-quarter revenue in professional staffing fell 11.9% to $30.1 million; a decrease of $4.8 million in the IT group was partially offset by a $700,000 increase in the finance and accounting group.

Revenue in the company’s real estate segment — which includes managers, assistant managers, leasing agents and bilingual leasing agents to apartment communities and commercial buildings — rose 28.4% year over year to $21.3 million. The company attributed the growth to geographic expansion.

Light industrial staffing revenue rose 8.5% to $19.5 million. The overall revenue increase was due to a 2.1% increase in billed hours and a 6.7% increase in average bill rate.

BG Staffing acquired southeast IT staffing firm Zycron Inc. in April 2017, and Smart Resources Inc. — a temporary and direct-hire finance and accounting staffing provider in Chicago — in September 2017.

Share price and market cap

Shares in BG Staffing edged down 0.26% to $26.50 as of 1:03 p.m. Eastern time today. The company had a market cap of $ 267.36 million.