BlackBerry reports almost $1 billion loss in Q2 fiscal results

As expected, BlackBerry is reporting a quarterly loss of nearly $1 billion as the struggling firm releases its fiscal results for the second quarter. The company managed to ship 3.7 million handsets, giving a revenue of $1.6 billion. This is a drop of 49 percent from the first quarter ($3.1 billion) and 45 percent down on the same period last year ($2.9 billion). Overall, there are operating losses amounting to $965 million.

A large proportion of the units shipped were BlackBerry 10 handsets sent out to wholesalers and mobile firms, and profits from these will not be counted until sold to customers. In Q2, 5.9 million smartphones were placed in customers' hands, and this includes handset shipments from previous quarters. The poor results had been widely predicted, and BlackBerry cancelled its scheduled conference call.

BlackBerry is pinning much of its losses on an unsold inventory of Z10 handsets ($934 million) as well as "pre-tax restructuring charges" of $72 million. But there is no denying that the fact that the company's revenue has all but halved in three months is a disaster.

Thorsten Heins, President and CEO of BlackBerry said "We are very disappointed with our operational and financial results this quarter and have announced a series of major changes to address the competitive hardware environment and our cost structure. We remain a financially strong company with $2.6 billion in cash and no debt. We are focused on our targeted markets, and are committed to completing our transition quickly in order to establish a more focused and efficient company".

BlackBerry remains in talks with Fairfax, who emerged as the only potential buyer interested in taking on the company.

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