BlackBerry today announced its Q3 FY2015 financial results. It was not all good news as revenues came in at US$793 million, down from US$916 million the previous quarter and short of analyst expectations. Hardware accounted for 46 percent of revenues while services accounted for another 46 percent with software and other revenue accounting for the last 8 percent.
On the hardware side, some 1.9 million BlackBerry smartphones were sold to end customers, “which included shipments made and recognized prior to the third quarter and which reduced the Company’s inventory in channel.” On the analyst call that followed, BlackBerry CEO John Chen said that sales were lower than they could have been as the company could not keep up with demand for its BlackBerry Passport. Chen also added that BlackBerry Classic pre-orders had come in higher than those for the Passport. In comparison, BlackBerry sold 2.1 million BlackBerry devices in Q2.
“We achieved a key milestone in our eight quarter plan with positive cash flow. We also attained another important milestone in the release of our new enterprise software products and devices,” said Executive Chairman and CEO John Chen. “Our focus now turns to expanding our distribution and driving revenue growth.”
On a positive note, Chen delivered on his promise to generate a positive cash flow from operations this quarter. In its outlook, the company expects “break-even or better cash flow from operations” and it now plans to be “increasingly looking for opportunities to prudently invest in growth.”
Chen’s BlackBerry turnaround may not be complete but it does appear to be well underway.
Source : BlackBerry