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During its fiscal first quarter earnings call at the close of the market this evening enterprise resource plan-ning software developer Lawson Software Inc announced the acquisition of Closedloop Solutions Inc.
Closedloop makes collaborative applications that help businesses with financial planning, budgeting and forecasting.
The acquisition is the second announced by Lawson this week, and the third this year. Earlier this week Lawson announced the acquisition of Apexion Technologies Inc. In July, it acquired UK based Numbercraft.
The acquisitions are all part of the companys strategy to strengthen its vertical offerings and better com-pete with rival ERP providers, including PeopleSoft Inc. which recently acquired ERP provider J.D. Edwards & Co., and is facing a hostile takeover bid by applications provider Oracle Corp.
“In general the acquisition strategy follows our corporate strategy – its aligned by verticals, which are our competitive differentiation and advantage,” said Jay Coughlan, Lawsons president and CEO. “What that really means is more vertical functionality…[and moving] deeper into verticals, adding a bigger footprint, so that we can grow now matter how the economy is.”
Apexion will bring to the Lawson table vertical expertise in the healthcare arena, with its surgical instru-ment management and supply tracking software. Numbercraft brought analytical, planning and optimization software for the retail vertical.
The acquisition of Closedloop and its namesake Dynamic Financial Control technology will strengthen Lawsons EPM [enterprise performance management] software. Lawson plans to rebrand Closedloops appli-cations as Lawson Budgeting and Planning, which will be enhanced and integrated with Lawsons existing En-terprise Performance Management suite.
The first version of that combined software is expected during the companys third quarter that begins De-cember 1 of this year.
Subject to Closedloop shareholders, the acquisition is expected to close within the next ten days, officials said.
Terms of the deal were undisclosed and Lawson anticipates retaining most of Closedloops employees at the companys headquarters in Redwood City, Calif.
Lawson is coming from a strong perspective, with revenues from its first fiscal quarter of 2004, ended Aug. 31, reported at $88 million, slightly up from $87.4 million for the same quarter in 2003. License revenues increased 25 percent for the quarter to nearly $23 million, compared to $18 million for the same quarter in 2003.
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