Creek & River (4763:TYO), a Japan-based staffing provider, reported first-quarter profit fell 17.2% year over year to JPY 859.8 million (USD 5.5 million) amid fewer projects at video game publishers. Still, revenue edged up 0.8% to JPY 12.85 billion (USD 81.9 million).

“The demand for professionals with specialized skills, such as creators, doctors, IT engineers, lawyers, accountants, architects, fashion designers, chefs and researchers, who are part of the group’s network, remains strong,” according to a regulatory filing translated from Japanese. “However, in the first quarter, the group was affected by the reduction in projects at some major game publishers and the prolonged time it takes to close contracts for recruitment services.”

Creek & River provides staffing for video game, web and advertising production as well as medical, legal and finance/accounting staffing. It operates other businesses as well, including management of intellectual property rights for items such as videos, games and books.

Its first quarter ended 31 May.

In other data:

• Gross margin narrowed in the quarter to 39.3% from 40.6% in the first quarter of the previous year.
• It forecast full-year revenue will be up 10.4% year over year.

Creek & River has branches in Tokyo, Osaka and Montreal.

The company announced earnings on 9 July. Shares in Creek & River closed down 12.45% to JPY 1,568 (USD 9.73) on July 10 in Japan. They were 2.62% above their 52-week low.