Oracle: Next stop, Manhattan

Venture Wire reports: Software giant Oracle Corp. said it agreed to acquire retail software maker ProfitLogic Inc. for an undisclosed sum – its second acquisition in the retail software sector this year – as it bolsters its challenge to publicly traded SAP AG. Oracle and SAP, bitter rivals in the $9 billion business -management software market, have made the retail industry a primary battle ground, because of strong growth potential and the lack of a clear leader. The purchase of ProfitLogic follows the acquisition of Retek, which Oracle bought in April for about $669 million after outbidding SAP. A closely held company with about 250 employees, ProfitLogic makes software that analyzes sales data in order to help retailers better promote and price their wares.

The next acquisition for Oracle, therefore, ought to be Manhattan Associates (MANH). It’s a well-run company hadquartered in Atlanta, GA, specializes in Warehouse Management systems and the likes, claims the who’s who of the retail business as customers, and is quite a cheap deal @ $600M Market Cap. [2004 Sales: $215M; Gross Margin: $125M; Operating Margin: $93M; Net Income: $22M].

Wonder what all the extra Enterprise Software sales people in the market ought to retrain for, as Ellison’s chariot continues to run over them!

[For additional analysis, read this Business 2.0 article:
The logic of ProfitLogic.]

This segment is a part in the series : Oracle