BlackBerry Recovery Boosted By Q4 Profit But Revenues Fall Again

BlackBerry’s recovery has been strengthened by another surprise quarterly profit, but losses are still growing year-on-year despite a refreshed device range and a number of new services and software initiatives.

The Canadian firm made $28 million (£18.78m) during the fourth quarter of its financial 2015, an improvement from the $148 million (£99.424m) loss it made during the same period last year, but revenues fell from $976 million (£655m) to $660 million (£442.6m) year-on-year.

It recognised revenue from 1.3 million devices, although claimed to have sold 1.6 million, which accounted for 42 percent of revenue. Services generated 47 percent of income, while software delivered ten percent.

BlackBerry results

BlackBerry is confident that its expanding portfolio of cross-platform services like BlackBerry Experience suite and BES 12 cloud alongside integrations with Samsung Knox and Android for Work will pay dividends.

New handsets such as the Classic, Passport and Leap have also been released as the company seeks to retain fans of its smartphones, many of which are still loyal to the BlackBerry brand.

“Our focus this past year was on getting our financial house in order while creating a multi-year growth strategy and investing in our product portfolio,” said CEO John Chen. “We now have a very good handle on our margins, and our product roadmaps have been well received.

“The second half of our turnaround focuses on stabilization of revenue with sustainable profitability and cash generation.”

At Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015, Chen spoke of his desire for BlackBerry to manage “anything with an IP” and that he was hopeful for the company’s future following a disastrous few years which saw the firm toppled as the leader in the enterprise smartphone market.

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