BlackBerry has surprised analysts with a small profit for the fiscal fourth quarter, but revenue was well down on expectations as sales of new smartphones and software disappointed.
A massive cost-cutting exercise has led to profit despite weak sales. The company has laid-off half of its workforce in the past two years and sold vast property holdings in Canada.
The company published its results for the three months to February 28 on Friday, showing revenue of just $660m (£443m). That income is down drastically from the $976m seen the year before, and some way short of the $786m expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Only 42 per cent of this came from hardware sales, as it sold just 1.6m smartphones during the period, with 47 per cent from services and ten per cent from software sales.
In recent months is launched the BlackBerry Passport and Classic but their reception failed to make a big splash, with high-profile releases from Apple, Samsung and HTC within months of it continuing to bag the majority of smartphone market share.
Analysts claimed in February that the company had just 700,000 users in the UK, with this number expected to fall to just 400,000 by 2017.
In 2014 Windows Phone ousted BlackBerry from its third-place position in the table of the UK smartphone user base.
Profit during the period was $28m, equating to four cents per share – significantly up on the eight cents loss seen a year ago.
Chief executive John Chen said: “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. 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 stabilisation of revenue with sustainable profitability and cash generation.”
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