BlackBerry posts net loss of $207 million in Q2

Canadian handset maker BlackBerry today said it has narrowed its net loss for the second quarter ended August 31, 2014 to $207 million compared to the previous year helped by increased adoption of its BlackBerry Enterprises Service (BES) and handset sales.

The Waterloo (Ontario)-headquartered firm had posted a net loss of $965 million is the year-ago period.

The company follows March to February fiscal year.

However, revenue for the second quarter of its fiscal 2015 stood at $916 million, down 42% from $1.57 billion in the same quarter of previous fiscal.

The firm sold 2.1 million smartphones in the June-August quarter and issued a total of 3.1 million BES 10 licences. The monthly active users on instant chatting app BBM rose to 91 million from 85 million in the prior quarter.

Quarter-on-quarter, BlackBerry had reported a net profit of $23 million and revenue of $966 million in the first quarter. It had sold 1.6 million smartphones in the March-May quarter.

"Our workforce restructuring is now complete and we are focusing on revenue growth with judicious investments to further our leadership position in enterprise mobility and security, driving us towards non-GAAP profitability during FY 2016," BlackBerry Executive Chairman and CEO John Chen said.

The firm said its net loss includes pre-tax restructuring charges of $33 million related to the restructuring programme.

The revenue breakdown for the quarter was about 46% from hardware, including handdsets, services (46%) and software and other revenue (8%).

Handset sales, including shipments made and recognised prior to the second quarter and those that reduced "the company's inventory in channel," were about 2.4 million smartphones, it said.

BlackBerry said its cash and investments balance stood at $3.1 billion at the end of the fiscal quarter, up $11 million from the prior quarter.

"Purchase obligations and other commitments amounted to approximately $1.6 billion as of August 30, 2014, with purchase orders with contract manufacturers representing approximately $344 million of the total," it said.

On the outlook, BlackBerry said it continues to anticipate maintaining its strong cash position, while increasingly looking for opportunities to prudently invest in growth.

"The company continues to target break-even cash flow results by the end of fiscal 2015," it added.