Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions). We'll go first to Kevin McVay with Credit Suisse.
Kevin McVay - Credit Suisse
Great, thanks. Hey Tim. Bob and Tyra.
Robert Crouch
Hi.
Timothy Payne
Kevin how are you?
Kevin McVay - Credit Suisse
Doing very well, thanks. A real good job in obviously a very, very tough environment. Tim last quarter you framed out just on the natural progression of the down cycle. Just wanted to revisit that a little bit, see if you kind of -- as we kind of enter that flattish span, would you expect it to be kind of the fourth quarter bounce we saw last cycle or more compressed elongated. Just any incremental thoughts you have around that and how you feel today versus three months ago about the business overall?
Timothy Payne
Well, my view of this is based on our company and our clients and what we're seeing and hearing. I do believe it's going to be similar probably about a one year flat spot. And I don't have anything particularly scientific to gauge that. I do think we're probably through the flat spot. We are as Bob pointed out we're still seeing a little bit of deterioration in revenue but it's not coming nearly at the pace that it was in the fourth quarter in the first quarter.
So things does feel like they're stabilizing a little bit. When we talk to clients and we talk to our people out in the fields, we're starting to see a lot more positive discussion particularly on the temp side. Still not seeing really any indications that employers, at least our clients are ready to come back in any big way and hire a lot of full time staff.
So I guess I'll say I'm sort of cautiously optimistic that we'll probably see this running through the rest of this year and then I would hope that possibly traditionally we ended the first quarter kind of March to freshening of the staffing business. And so I guess what I would hope is that by the end of first quarter of next year, we'd start to see some improvement and may be a few opportunities to start growing again.
Kevin McVay - Credit Suisse
Great and then just one other and I'll get off. You've done a real good job preserving the gross margins too, in the current environment. I wonder if you could spend a moment just on the pricing environment and how you've been able to manage that through obviously in the last cycle where you're able to increase the gross margins by managing the spread. Just how we should think about that?
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