I know they have offices right here in the buildings where I work in Bloomington, MN.
and here is an article from todays Star Tribune:
Lawson Software goes public on Friday
Sherri Cruz
Star Tribune
Published Dec 6 2001
In the late 1970s, officials of produce wholesaler H. Brooks &
Co. knew that if they wanted to stay ahead of the competition,
using computers was the way to go.
But back then a business had to write its own software or hire a
programmer. So owner Irving Brooks asked Burroughs, its
computer vendor, for referrals.
After three years and three different programmers, progress
was poor. Burroughs representatives felt bad. To compensate,
they traded a new computer for a flat of strawberries -- and
made one last referral.
They recommended an independent software developer known
as Lawson Associates, which included Bill Lawson, his brother
Richard and colleague John Cerullo.
Turns out, the computer and the referral would help launch
Lawson Software, a business-software maker based in St. Paul.
"They came in and said they could help us get going," said
Phillip Brooks, president of St. Paul-based H. Brooks & Co.
After working day and night for a month, the Lawsons did just
what they said they would. Then they asked whether they could
rent computer time from Brooks. Happy to have the Lawson
folks around, Brooks' dad, Irving, said, "use it whenever you
want."
Today, the Brooks company still is a loyal customer and uses
several Lawson software applications. "By them staying on top
of things, we kept ourselves on top of things," Brooks said.
And on the eve of Lawson's public offering, Brooks is happy for
Lawson's new beginning.
"We're excited for them, that they were able to go public, and
we hope it works well for them," Brooks said.
He's going to get in on the action, too.
"I'm going to buy some stock because I think it's going to go up
and I think it's a great company," he said.
If all goes well, that's what a lot of investors will do, and the
much-anticipated Lawson IPO will raise an estimated $216
million. About 14 million shares priced between $13 and $15
are expected to be sold beginning Friday.
Lawson surprised many in June by announcing its IPO plans
because it had completed private venture capital funding of
$40 million only a month earlier. According to its Securities
and Exchange Commission filing, Lawson is raising funds
through the offering to pay off debts and compete globally. The
company said it couldn't comment Wednesday because it still is
in its "quiet period."
Lawson sells enterprise resource planning software, which helps
companies run their businesses. For example, its software
automates human-resources processes as well as financial
management. The company targets five segments: health care,
professional services, financial services, retail and the public
sector.
The market for enterprise software in North America is
expected to reach $50.1 billion by 2004, up from $28 billion in
1999, according to International Data Corp.
Nonetheless, in its quest for expansion, Lawson faces hefty
competition: SAP AG, based in Germany, and two
California-based companies, PeopleSoft Inc. and Oracle Corp.
These companies claim about 55 percent of the enterprise
resource planning software market, according to Boston-based
AMR Research. Lawson has about 2 percent of the market.
John Hagerty, an analyst with AMR Research, said that
although the stock market has picked up in the past few days,
it's still a bold time to be going public.
"I think it's good of them to try and go at it at this time," he
said.
But Lawson has another thing working against it. While the
enterprise software market is expected to grow, it has leveled
off, Hagerty said. It significantly expanded between 1996 and
1999, when companies grew at a 25 percent rate. During the
next few years, companies in the enterprise resource planning
market are expected to grow at about 12 percent annually, he
said.
One edge Lawson has over its competition is that its software is
easy to use, Hagerty said. The software offers fewer options --
which sounds negative but makes it simple, he said.
Lawson is considered a "best of breed" software, meaning a
company might use Lawson along with other software vendors
to run their business as opposed to buying a "one-stop shop"
kind of software.
Overall, the company is well thought of, Hagerty said. When
people think of Lawson, they think of "solid Midwestern
values," he said.
"I'm interested to see how that translates on Wall Street."
-- Sherri Cruz is at scruz@startribune.com .
© Copyright 2001 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. |
