First-quarter revenue fell 22.2% year-over-year at CDI Corp. (NYSE: CDI) to $228.7 million. The Philadelphia-based engineering and information technology services and staffing company said weakness in hiring demand in the fourth quarter continued in the first.

"We anticipate continued weakness in hiring demand in most sectors of our business well into 2009," said President and CEO Roger Ballou. "However, we are seeing some signs of bottoming in the capital spending-driven engineering area as prices stabilize for a broad range of chemicals and specialty chemicals."

CDI reported first-quarter revenue fell 16.8% on a constant currency basis.

The company's first-quarter gross margin narrowed to 20.7% from 24.2% in the year-ago quarter.

CDI reported a first-quarter net loss of $920,000 compared with net income of $7.9 million in the first quarter of 2008. The company took a $1.3 million reorganization charge in the quarter for severance payments and real estate exit costs.

CDI estimates second-quarter revenue to be down 20.0% to 27.0%.

CDI Corp. (NYSE: CDI)
For the first quarter ended March 31, 2009, compared with the same period in 2008.
Revenue: $228.7 million, -22.2%
Net loss: $920,000 vs. net income of $7.9 million