BlackBerry beats profit estimates as software business steadies

[March 28, 2018]  (Reuters) - Canada's BlackBerry Ltd beat adjusted profit estimates for the fourteenth straight quarter, helped by higher margins on software and services sales.

A Blackberry sign is seen in front of their offices on the day of their annual general meeting for shareholders in Waterloo, Canada in this June 23, 2015. REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File photo

The company, which reinvented itself after customers ditched its smartphones for Apple's iPhones and Android devices, said revenue from its enterprise software and services business came in at $108 million, up from $91 million last year.

Gross margins rose to 76 percent in the quarter from 60.1 percent last year.

Excluding one-time items, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company earned 5 cents per share. Analysts on average had expected the company to break even, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net loss narrowed to $10 million, or 6 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Feb. 28, from $47 million, or 10 cents per share, a year earlier.

The company's revenue fell 18.5 percent to $233 million.

U.S. listed shares of the company were up 7 percent at $13.25 Wednesday before markets opened.

(Reporting by Taenaz Shakir in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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