NSB Retail Systems Plc, the Nottingham, UK developer of software for retailers, says it has enjoyed a strong start to the second half and is on course to meet its full- year targets. In the six months through June 30, net income rose 14.4% to 531,000 pounds ($876,150) on revenue that increased 52.7% to 5.2m pounds ($8.5m). Net income per share was 4.6% higher at 4.5 pence.
The company has been transformed by the merger in July this year with Columbus, Ohio-based Unlimited Solutions Inc (CI No 3,699). The two companies have been partners for some time and a combination of USI’s point of service software with NSB’s applications for centralized management of merchandise, inventory and warehouse operations offered customers a more complete package.
There will also be the potential to sell into each other’s customer bases. But this is a highly fragmented market and the biggest opportunities for NSB lie in entering related markets and looking for geographical expansion. The company targets the clothing sector and says it has no ambitions to move in areas although it has been able to move into related retail sectors such as garden centers and other areas such as sports goods, jewelers and DIY stores. NSB says its concentration on one sector gives it advantages over heavy hitters such as SAP AG which are attacking the whole retail sector in that it says it can offer more functionality for its target customers.
