JDA CEO says firm will reach $10 billion in revenue by 2025

The CEO of supply chain technology firm JDA Software Group Inc. said it plans to reach $10 billion in annual revenue by 2025, an ambitious goal that requires the company to grow by 31 percent a year from its estimated 2017 revenue base of $1 billion.

Speaking at his company's annual user conference in Orlando, Girish Rishi said the company has a $500 million war chest which it will invest in growth opportunities. He did not specify whether the revenue goal would be attained through acquisitions, internal growth, or a combination of both.

Rishi says JDA's revenue growth will come from a forecasted $100 billion in value it says it will enable for its customers, combining their internal cost savings and external growth. The current revenue figures come from two sources at the privately held firm, which is based in Scottsdale, Ariz. JDA does not publicly disclose its financial results.

In his keynote address yesterday, Rishi said the firm will help its users capitalize on the benefits of big data, edge computing, and product personalization. JDA plans to leverage technology developments such as falling prices for silicon processors, the wide availability of wireless internet, and broad use of cloud processing and artificial intelligence (AI), Rishi said.

JDA's revenue targets would represent a much higher rate of growth than other companies foresee, said Clint Reiser, director of supply chain research at Needham, Mass.-based consultancy ARC Advisory Group. It would mark a significant turnaround for a company that was carrying such a heavy debt load in 2016 that it required a private equity investment to balance its books, Reiser said.

JDA's parent company, the private equity firm New Mountain Capital, teamed with investment banking giant The Blackstone Group to invest $570 million in the company that year.

JDA reported 11-percent revenue growth for the fourth quarter of 2017 and 13-percent growth for the first quarter of 2018, compared to the same periods a year earlier.

JDA says its cash position is the strongest in five years. The company plans to hire up to 100 employees in 2018, including data scientists, software engineers, product managers, and others professionals in advanced analytics, mobility, AI, IoT, and edge solutions, JDA spokeswoman Jolene Peixoto said. The firm has also hired nearly 100 employees in product development globally in the last six months, including 40 new hires in Dallas, she said.