How to parse/decode JSON object in smarty template?
I'm not an expert with Smarty, but I think you're trying to access the property of a JSON structured string.
Try to decode it first to an object and then access it.
Something like this:
{foreach $items as $entry} {assign var="person" value="{$entry->nb_persons|@json_decode}"} <pre> {$person.company} </pre>{/foreach}
I didn't test it, though.
Good luck!