BlackBerry surprises market with US$23 million profit in fiscal Q1

BlackBerry has posted a deep slump in its first quarter revenues, but also announced an unexpected profit, which sent its share price soaring.

The company’s shares jumped by 12 per cent in early trading after it announced a net profit of US$23 million for fiscal Q1 to the end of May.

However, revenues plunged by 69 per cent to US$966 million. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 39 per cent for hardware, 54 per cent for services and seven per cent for software and other revenue.

The company said that cost cutting led to higher margins and the turnaround in profitability.

Smartphone sales, however, continue to slide. During Q1, around 2.6 million BlackBerry smartphones were sold through to end customers, compared with 3.4 million the previous quarter.

The company ended the period with cash and investments of US$3.1 billion.