First-quarter revenue at Cross Country Healthcare Inc. (NASD: CCRN) edged up 1.3%, but gross margin narrowed. The Boca Raton, Fla.-based healthcare staffing provider reported net income attributable to common shareholders rose to $1.6 million; net income attributable to common shareholders included a loss on early extinguishment of debt of $5.0 million and a gain on the derivative liability of $1.6 million.

In January, the company appointed former Executive VP and CFO William Burns to the role of chief operating officer and named former Corporate Controller Christopher Pizzi senior VP and CFO. Other organizational changes included splitting its legacy nurse and allied business into two divisions: travel nurse and allied; and branch operations.

Revenue by segment

Quote

“I was pleased to see several businesses with solid performance, including high single-digit growth in travel allied and double-digit growth in both our education healthcare staffing and physician and executive search businesses,” President and CEO William Grubbs said. “Advantage RN had another quarter of strong sequential growth of nurses on assignment at our managed services programs. This positive start supports our full year financial goals although we still have some work to do to return our travel nurse business to run rates we experienced prior to the fourth quarter of 2017, which we expect to occur in the second half of 2018.”

Guidance

Cross Country forecasts second-quarter revenue will range from $206 million to $211 million, a decline of 2% to an increase of 1% compared to the second quarter of 2017.