Third-quarter revenue fell 6.4% at TrueBlue Inc. (NYSE: TBI). The Tacoma, Washington-based staffing firm cited reduced demand from existing clients. However, net income rose 9.4%.

TrueBlue also reported revenue in its People Management division continues to be affected by the loss of several key clients in the prior year, and its PeopleScout MSP and RPO division is still impacted by the departure of a client last year as well as reduced project-based recruitment volumes at another large client because of less favorable business conditions.

However, CEO Patrick Beharelle said top- and bottom-line results were better than expected.

“Despite ongoing economic uncertainty, monthly revenue trends were consistent during the quarter, and we delivered another quarter of net income per diluted share growth,” Beharelle said.

The company also noted that PeopleReady’s online staffing platform JobStack dispatched 1 million shifts during the quarter and had a digital fill rate of 40%. In addition, market interest in its PeopleScout RPO business remains strong with a boost from its Affinix talent acquisition technology.

However, TrueBlue’s PeopleManagement on-site staffing division was affected by the loss of Amazon.com’s Canadian business in the second half of 2018 when it insourced recruitment and management of contingent labor for warehouses. The PeopleManagement business includes on-site staffing and its Centerline truck driver staffing operations.

Revenue by segment

Guidance

TrueBlue forecast fourth-quarter revenue to be down 10% to down 6%.

“We expect additional pressure on our revenue trends in the fourth quarter of 2019 due primarily to widespread lower same-client demand as clients continue to experience weaker volumes within their own businesses across most geographies and industries,” the company said in its 10-Q filing.

In its PeopleReady division, the company forecast fourth-quarter revenue to be down 8% to down 5%; PeopleManagement revenue was forecast to be down 11% to down 6%.

PeopleScout fourth-quarter revenue is forecast to be down 16% to down 8%.

Personnel

TrueBlue also announced that Senior VP and Chief Accounting Officer Norman Frey will retire at the end of 2020. Richard Christensen will take over the role; Christensen has been VP and corporate controller since 2015.

Share price and market cap

Shares in TrueBlue were up 9.92% to $24.93 as of 11:01 a.m. Eastern time; the company had a market cap of $908.9 million, according to FT.com.