BlackBerry’s recently released end of year results reveal revenue to have fallen 64 percent year-on-year and annual losses to have reached some $5.9bn, as the Canadian company still struggles to instigate a return to once impressive form. Nonetheless, BlackBerry’s results are not without a select few pockets of opportunity, and new chief executive John Chen is confident of there being emboldened financial results in the months ahead.
“The company anticipates maintaining its strong cash position and continuing to look for opportunities to streamline operations,” reads the company’s end of year financial report. “The Company is targeting break even cash flow results by the end of fiscal 2015.”
Nonetheless, BlackBerry’s results are not without a select few pockets
of opportunity
BlackBerry’s bold change of strategy under Chen has seen the ailing smartphone maker depart from its once successful hardware business and focus more so on software and services; however, the shift has not come without its sacrifices. As a result, the company has been forced to lay off thousands of staff and sell a great deal of its most impressive real estate, not least of which being its US headquarters in Irving, Texas.
The company has focused operations on its services business, with its hardware having lost ground to Apple and Android powered systems in recent years. Perhaps the biggest of BlackBerry’s stumbling blocks this past financial year was that with regards to its underwhelming Z10 sales, which are reported to have lost the company $934m in total.
Although the company’s revenue has plummeted, $976m from $2.68bn, it would appear that its prospects are beginning to improve somewhat. The company’s fourth quarter losses, ending March 1, came to $423m, a much lesser sum than many expected and a hugely positive development for the company.
Provided that BlackBerry continues on with its aggressive cost-cutting regime and extensive restructuring programme under Chen, many analysts believe that the long-suffering firm could break even or even turn a profit a year on from now.
