New York Stock Exchange listed recruiter Spherion has announced a drop in revenue for the third quarter of 2009.

Third quarter 2009 revenues were $420m (£253m) compared with $542 million last year, a fall of 22.5%.

Revenues for the first nine months of 2009 were $1.3bn compared with $1.7bn for the same period in 2008.

Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) in the third quarter was $9.2m, or 2.2% of revenues, compared with $15.4m, or 2.8% of revenues in Q3 of 2008. 

Spherion president and chief executive, Roy Krause, says: “Our revenues in the third quarter increased nearly 3% from the prior quarter as the economy continued to show signs of improvement. Additionally, we once again exceeded our 2.0% EBITDA target due to focused cost management.

“As the economic recovery takes hold, our focus is now shifting towards growing operating margins through expansion of our higher value services such as recruitment process outsourcing, where we are the industry leader, and professional staffing and solutions, while continuing our focus on operational effectiveness.”

Spherion operates from roughly 575 locations in the US and Canada under the following brands: Spherion Staffing Services Group for administrative, clerical and light industrial workers; Technisource for technology professionals and solutions; The Mergis Group for accounting and finance and other professional positions; Todays Office Professionals for specialty administrative personnel; and SourceRight Solutions for recruitment process outsourcing.