BlackBerry today announced its Q1 FY2015 financial results. They suggest that the company may finally be starting to see the benefits of its new leadership under CEO John Chen, refocused attention on the enterprise space and various cost-cutting measures. It reported a net loss of US$60 million on revenues of US$966 million. Not only is this loss much smaller than those in recent quarters but there are other signs showing that the company appears to be turning its fortunes around.
Gross margins jumped to 48% from 43% the previous quarter and cash on hand rose US$429 million to US$3.1 billion thanks to a tax refund and the sale of much of its Canadian real estate.
Services accounted for 54% of revenues with hardware responsible for another 39%.
“Our performance in fiscal Q1 demonstrates that we are firmly on track to achieve important milestones, including our financial objectives and delivering a strong product portfolio,” said John Chen, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackBerry. “Over the past six months, we have focused on improving efficiency in all aspects of our operations to drive cost reductions and margin improvement. Looking forward, we are focusing on our growth plan to enable our return to profitability.”
On the handset side, BlackBerry sold 1.6 million Blackberry smartphones, up from 1.3 million the previous quarter. At the same time, customers picked up 2.6 million devices as BlackBerry’s partners continue to work through their channel inventories.
BlackBerry also reconfirmed plans to expand availability of its entry-level BlackBerry Z3 beyond Indonesia. It will launch in at least 8 additional countries. Among those should be India as early as next week.
BlackBerry continues to expect to reach break-even cash flow results by the end of fiscal 2015.
Source : BlackBerry