Monday, October 28, 2002

Manhattan Associates emerging as leader in warehouse management systems

Manhattan Associates just announced its 2002 Q3 results, coming in with net income of $6M, a 30% increase over same quarter last year. More impressively, the profit increase didn't come just by cutting expenses. Revenue rose 8% to nearly $43M. In this market, those are excellent results, and Manhattan has been putting up strong numbers on the board since the late 1990s.

The standalone WMS market is highly fragmented, with hundreds of niche vendors. Manhattan's main competitor has been EXE Technologies, a well-established vendor with whom it was evenly matched a couple of years ago. But that has all changed, as Manhattan Associates has continued to grow through the recession, while EXE has shrunk. Other major WMS players include Catalyst, HK Systems, McHugh, and Optum. But none has been able to turn in results similar to Manhattan's.

Separately, Manhattan last week signed a letter of intent to buy Logistics.com, for about $20M. The addition of Logistics.com transportation management systems and services will extend Manhattan's core WMS products, allowing it to provide a more comprehensive supply chain planning and execution suite of offerings.