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View All NewsTrueBlue revenue up 3%, strength noted in industrial staffing division
TrueBlue Inc. (NYSE: TBI) reported revenue rose 3.0% in the third quarter. Organic revenue edged up by 0.7% when excluding the divested PlaneTechs business, which TrueBlue sold in March to Launch Technical Workforce Solutions for $11.4 million.
| (US$ thousands) | Q3 2018 | Q3 2017 | % change |
| Revenue | $680,371 | $660,780 | 3.0% |
| Gross profit | $184,318 | $172,019 | 7.1% |
| Gross margin percentage | 27.1% | 26.0% | |
| Net income | $24,380 | $21,221 | 14.9% |
Blue-collar staffing division PeopleReady drove much of the strength in TrueBlue’s third-quarter results, CEO and Director Patrick Beharelle said in a conference call with investors, with growth accelerating to 3% from 2% last quarter despite two percentage points of headwind from additional revenue in the company’s energy business and additional business from hurricane Irma in last year’s third quarter.
The company’s PeopleScout segment, which includes its RPO and MSP business lines, posted a double-digit increase in revenue for the fifth consecutive quarter through a combination of organic growth and acquisition growth. Excluding TMP Holdings, the UK-based RPO provider acquired in June, organic revenue was up 13%.
The revenue decline at PeopleManagement was attributed primarily to the divestiture of PlaneTechs, which accounted for a 5.1% year-over-year decrease. Additionally, Amazon in September took its Canadian business in-house — mirroring the shift it made in its US operations in 2016 — which accounted for a 2.5% decline in PeopleManagement’s revenue compared to the same period the year prior.
Revenue by segment
| (US$ thousands) | Q3 2018 | Q3 2017 | % change |
| PeopleReady | $428,665 | $414,995 | 3.3% |
| PeopleManagement | $181,199 | $196,835 | -7.9% |
| PeopleScout | $70,507 | $48,950 | 44.0% |
Quote
“TrueBlue’s digital strategies are creating differentiation with clients and candidates,” said Beharelle, who took over the CEO role from Steven Cooper in September. “JobStack, our PeopleReady mobile staffing technology, is transforming how people find work and how businesses find people. Affinix, our PeopleScout proprietary talent acquisition technology, is receiving praise from current and prospective customers.”
Guidance
TrueBlue estimates fourth-quarter revenue to range from $642 million to $659 million, a year-over-year decrease of 2.0% to 4.0%.
Share price and market cap
TrueBlue shares were down 1.07% to $24.11 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time today; the company had a market cap of $990.09 million, according to FT.com.