Ignite Ltd. (IGN:ASX) reported revenue rose 5% to AUD 28.7 million (USD 20.8 million) in its fiscal quarter ended 31 December. The Sydney, Australia-based staffing provider said Covid-19 continues to impact business with varying public health orders in place.

Gross margin improved to 11.76% in the quarter from 11.57% in the year-ago quarter driven by increased contribution from permanent placements.

Ignite also reported it had 882 active contractors as of 31 December compared to 878 on 31 December 2020.

Guidance

Ignite says customer demand in its specialist recruitment division for contingent labor is expected to continue at current levels during the March 2022 quarter across the company’s federal government customer base in the IT vertical and with commercial customers in the engineering vertical.

It noted permanent placement volumes in the second half of January have been encouraging and are expected to continue through the March 2022 quarter.

Share price and market cap

Shares in Ignite closed down 14.29% to AUD 12 cents (USD 8 cents) on Monday in Australia; shares were 27.27% below their 52-week high, according to FT.com. The company had a market cap of AUD 12.5 million (USD 8.8 million).