Revenue at BG Staffing Inc. (NYSE MKT: BGSF) rose 8.1% in the third quarter and gross margin improved. Revenue increased in the Plano, Texas-based staffing provider’s real estate and light industrial segments; however, revenue fell in its professional staffing segment.

The company promoted Beth Garvey to CEO and president, effective Oct. 1. She replaced L. Allen Baker, Jr., who resigned from those roles but remains as chairman of the board.

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“We are pleased with the company’s performance through the third quarter of the year as we continue to increase our gross profit and adjusted EBITDA percentage,” Garvey said. “Our third quarter growth was fueled by tremendous quarter-over-quarter increases in the real estate and light industrial segment revenues. Favorable economic trends, a robust job market, and positive business sentiment among our client base contributed to the strong quarter.”

Third-quarter revenue in professional staffing fell 8.1% to $29.2 million; a decrease of $4.0 million in the IT group was partially offset by a $1.4 million increase in the finance and accounting group, which included a decrease of $1.5 million from one customer. The company attributed the overall decrease to a 16.2% decrease in average bill rate, which was partially offset by a 11.1% increase in billed hours and a $500,000 increase in permanent placements.

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 21.9% year over year to $26.5 million. The company attributed the growth to continued geographic expansion plan and continued growth in existing offices.

Light industrial staffing revenue rose 20.1% to $21.4 million. The overall revenue increase was due to a 12.8% increase in billed hours and a 6.6% increase in average bill rate.

The company operates in 71 branch offices and 18 on-site locations located across 26 states. It 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 were up 4.4% to $24.60 as of 10:28 a.m. Pacific time today; the company had a market cap of $237.7 million, according to FT.com.