Compass, a specialist provider of 'merchandise planning solutions', launched onto Aim on Wednesday at 170p after successfully raising £2m in a placing. According to finance director Simon Duckworth, the move onto the junior market will hopefully 'raise the profile of the company' in its bid to attack a market which he estimates is worth several billion pounds in the UK alone. The group was founded back in 1995 and has developed a software package (called Range Direction) for the retail sector. The group supplies five different software 'modules' which can be bought as a complete package, or purchased individually to interface and improve a retailer's current software systems. The whole point of the software is to enable retailers (particularly those that sell clothing) to increase sales and reduce costs through better targeted ranges of products and better stock management. At present the group has more than 20 clients, which include the likes of River Island, M&S, Matalan, etam and Tesco. This impressive list enabled the group to achieve sales of £1.47m and profits of £202,000 in the year to November 1999. This year's performance is likely to be even stronger, as sales for the first five months (a traditionally quiet period) are likely to hit £736,996 (£459,108). Pre-tax profits should come in at £10,063 (loss of £96,103).