By Simon Hodgson
The decline of System Software Associates Inc, the Chicago-based provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and services, continues. To add insult to financial injury, the company has seen its shares dropped from the Nasdaq National Market to the lesser Nasdaq SmallCap market. The move comes after SSA has posted losses for seven consecutive quarters.
The relegation to the SmallCap exchange happened despite SSA’s belated and desperate attempt to keep ahead of Nasdaq’s minimum share price of $1 by making a one for four reverse stock split on August 17.
It’s all over bar the funeral dirge, says Bruce Richardson, vice president of research strategy at Boston-based AMR Research. On the other hand, says Richardson, the sales team appears to be largely intact, and is making good money from selling services to the company’s installed base. The demotion seems no more than a humiliation for now.
The future for SSA, according to analysts, may well lie in a friendly parent company. When considering possible buyers, Computer Associates International Inc is the first name on many lips, partly because of the two companies’ shared AS/400 business, and partly because acquisition has been CA’s modus operandi for the last 20-odd years. JD Edwards and Intentia were also mentioned as possible suitors.
