Waterloo, Ontario – Research In Motion (RIM) cut its second-quarter net loss by more than half on a sequential basis from the first quarter, the company reported.
The second-quarter loss of $235 million is RIM’s third consecutive quarterly loss but won’t be its last losing quarter. The company said it expects a net loss in its fiscal third quarter.
The second-quarter loss, which includes $136 million in pretax restructuring charges, was less than some analysts expected. The loss follows a first-quarter loss that had grown to $519 million following a fourth-quarter net loss of $125 million. In last year’s second quarter, the company posted net income of $329 million.
Second-quarter revenues of $2.9 billion were down 31 percent from the year-ago quarter but were up sequentially by 2 percent from the first quarter.
Said president/CEO Thorsten Heins of the results, “Despite the significant changes we are implementing across the organization, our second-quarter results demonstrate that RIM is progressing on its financial and operational commitments during this major transition.” He said RIM’s subscriber base grew to about 80 million global users; revenue grew sequentially; and cash, cash equivalents, and short-term and long-term investments increased by about $100 million to $2.3 billion. He also said carriers and developers “are responding well to previews of our upcoming BlackBerry 10 platform.”
Although RIM has “much more work to do,” the company is “making the organizational changes to drive improvements across the company, our employees are committed and motivated, and BlackBerry 10 is on track to launch in the first calendar quarter of 2013,” he said.
For the remainder of the fiscal year, RIM said it expects “continued pressure on operating results” because of “the increasing competitive environment, lower handset volumes, increased marketing expense associated with the launch of BlackBerry 10, and some impact from pressure by customers to reduce RIM’s monthly infrastructure access fees.” RIM will also continue to invest in targeted marketing and sales programs to aggressively drive sales of BlackBerry 7 handheld devices before the BlackBerry 10 launch, the company added.
