VEHICLE management systems company Minorplanet Systems is targeting its first year in profit following a major new deal with High Street store Boots and a planned new service for GE Capital Fleet Services customers which goes live next month. Rocketing business has seen Minorplanet turnover increase by 73% to £2.175 million in the six months to February 28, compared to the same period last year when it brought in £1.258 million.

Set-up costs for the company have meant that it is still running at a loss, up to £896,000 from £721,000 for the half-year last year, but the financial markets are expecting that Minorplanet will break even by the end of the second half-year as orders grow. Last year, it had sold 896 tracking units by the half-year benchmark, but that rose to 1,488 this year and since the February reporting date it has already exceeded last year's annual total of 2,100 units.

Boots has become one of the biggest customers for the system, which offers live satellite tracking or historical recording of a vehicle's movements. In March, Boots agreed a deal to fit its entire 334-strong lorry fleet with the Minorplanet system. GE Capital Fleet Services has signed a strategic alliance with Minorplanet which will see the launch of a major new mobile technology product in mid-May.