Professional staffing firm Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ: KFRC) reported revenue rose 2.3% in the fourth quarter to $416.7 million, driven by growth in its technology business.

On the other hand, finance/accounting revenue at the Tampa, Florida-based firm fell 26.4% year over year in the fourth quarter; the company attributed the decline to the expected run-off in its Covid-19 project-related business and repositioning efforts.

“Our technology business continues to be the primary driver to our success, with year-over-year growth of 7.6% and nearly 18% growth for the full year of 2022,” said COO Kye Mitchell.

Mitchell also noted Kforce’s average bill rate improved 1.7% sequentially to approximately $90 per hour.

“We believe the continued increase in bill rates reflects the continued demand environment for highly skilled talent and the criticality of these resources to our clients’ strategic priorities,” Mitchell said. “We believe this is strong evidence that the secular demand drivers in the technology talent solutions space are more tightly correlated to our long-term success than fluctuations in the macro-economic environment.”

For full-year 2022, revenue rose 8.3% year over year and increased 7.9% per billing day. In addition, gross margin improved four basis points.

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Guidance

Kforce estimated first-quarter revenue of between $406 million to $414 million.

Share price and market cap

Shares in Kforce edged up 0.19% to $57.61 as of 1:30 p.m. Eastern time; they were 16.74% above their 52-week low, according to FT.com. The company had a market cap of $1.19 billion.