After achieving what BlackBerry Ltd. CEO John Chen described as “historical highs” during the company’s second quarter, the company saw that momentum continue in its latest quarter.
More importantly, the company’s record software and services revenue of $199 million (all figures USD) represented 85 per cent of BlackBerry’s total company revenue, according to the Waterloo, Ont.-based enterprise software maker’s third-quarter 2018 earnings report.
BlackBerry’s total revenue for the period was $235 million.
“We made progresses in expanding our channels across our key growth area. We have significant wins in regulated industry,” Chen said during a Dec. 20 earnings call. “The enterprise team execute very well and deliver double-digit billings growth year-over-year.”
BlackBerry’s non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) income was $16 million, and non-GAAP earnings per share was three cents. The number of customer orders dropped slightly from last quarter, from 3,300 to 3,000, and its operating income was $16 million (non-GAAP). Its operating loss was $258 million.
But on an undeniably positive note, approximately 75 per cent of the quarter’s software sales and services revenue was recurring. BlackBerry’s technology solutions continued adding strong results to the company’s overall revenue, raking in $43 million, compared to last quarter’s $38 million. Licensing fees and handheld devices brought in $50 million and $9 million, respectively. BlackBerry also boasted a double-digit software and services billings growth year-over-year for the second consecutive quarter.
It was also the only vendor with a single platform offering to be recognized by in all eight categories of Gartner’s Market Guide for Information-Centric Endpoint and Mobile Protection.
The third-quarter results also highlighted BlackBerry’s recent partnership with Denso Corp. to develop the world’s first integrated Human Machine Interface Platform, a project Intel is contributing to as well.
“These accomplishments strengthen our foundation for future growth,” said Chen.
Our thanks to investment research platform Seeking Alpha for the transcriptions from BlackBerry’s Dec. 20 Q3 earnings call.