MAPICS and that post-acquisition bounce

The standing-room-only crowd in the ballroom at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare near Chicago must have gladdened the heart of Dick Cook, president and CEO of ERP vendor MAPICS. Overflow attendance at the three-day user conference in June put the cap on last year's acquisition of FrontStep and its SyteLine ERP brand on the Microsoft .NET platform.

"Consolidation has strengthened our market position and the long-term viability of the company," Cook said in what was his 12th state-of-the-business address. "The acquisition helped our results." Reuters reports that MAPICS did have a good second half in 2003, with revenues up 26 percent to $87 million and net income of $4.4 million versus a loss of $47,000 in the same period the year previous.

Jeff Cashman, MAPICS' chief marketing officer, says an estimated 100 new prospects showed up at the conference, many from Japan, while other customers are getting ready for acquisitions and, thus, new software installations. Cashman says MAPICS likely will continue its own acquisition path—"because in this industry, you're either hunting or being hunted."