Administaff 1st-quarter profit jumps 57 percent

Personnel-management company Administaff Inc. said Thursday its first-quarter profit jumped 57 percent, beating Wall Street expectations.

For the three months ended March 31, the company reported income of $13.2 million, or 51 cents per share, compared with $8.4 million, or 30 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Results are based on 25.8 million shares outstanding in the 2008 quarter and 28.2 million shares outstanding in the prior-year quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial, on average, estimated earnings of 48 cents per share on sales of $460.2 million.

Revenue rose 12 percent to $456.1 million from $407.8 million in the first quarter of 2007.

Revenue was boosted by an 8.3 percent increase in the average number of worksite employees paid per month and a 3.3 percent increase in revenue per worksite employee per month, the company said.