Beleaguered smartphone maker BlackBerry has reported a swing to a fourth-quarter loss of $423 million, with revenue sinking 64% to $976 million.
The loss for the quarter compares to a profit of $94 million a year earlier. But due to CEO John Chen's cost-cutting efforts, the result was still ahead of expectations and well ahead of the company's $4.4 billion loss from Q3.
BlackBerry recorded revenue from the sale of 1.3 million smartphones during Q4, down from 1.9 million in Q3.
But the company's quarterly report states that including sales to suppliers recognised in Q3, around 3.4 million BlackBerry smartphones were sold to end-users last quarter. Of these, two thirds were running BlackBerry 7.
Due to the cost cutting initiatives, R&D expenses were reduced by 24% and sales, marketing and administrative expenses declined 35%.
The company is aiming for breakeven cashflow by the end of its financial year ending in early March 2015, and hopes to return to profit sometime in the next financial year.
BlackBerry made headlines last week when it emerged that Chinese vendor Lenovo had attempted to buy out the smartphone maker last year, but was rebuffed by the Canadian government.