Just a few days after releasing the availability of its long-awaited BlackBerry 10 device here in the U.S., BlackBerry President and CEO Thorsten Heins said today that his company has returned to profitability.
Heins made the announcment this morning on the company’s year-end results call for the quarter that ended March 2. In the face of numerous challenges, BlackBerry has gone from a significant operating loss in the first quarter of the year to an operating profit in the fourth quarter. According to the smartphone maker, it has an exciting new mobile computing platform, is profitable and has a healthy balance sheet.
Regarding the future outlook of the BlackBerry 10, a news report on CNET this morning quotes Heins as saying that a “true gauge of its success or failure would come after two quarters.”
Additional highlights from the Q4 results as discussed by Heins during the call are as follows:
· Revenue of $2.7 billion.
· GAAP income from continuing operations of $94 million, or $0.18 per share diluted.
· Adjusted income from continuing operations of $114 million, or $0.22 per share diluted.
· Shipments of 6 million smartphones, including approximately 1 million BlackBerry 10 units .
· Subscriber base of approximately 76 million.
· Cash flow from operations of $219 million, cash and investments balance of $2.9 billion
“It was a year for change, and we delivered significant positive change,” Heins said this morning.
Heins added that with only a few weeks of availability, and in only a couple of countries, BlackBerry 10 has already made a strong entry into the high end of these markets with approximately 1 million BlackBerry 10 units, and that launch is accelerating: 223 carrier technical acceptances have been completed, and more than 60 carriers are now launched across 40 countries with more than 30 countries to come.
