The IT Nerd

BlackBerry for whatever reason decided to release [Warning: PDF] their Q4 numbers on April 1st, and the results were no joke for investors.

The company reported a $238-million U.S. net loss in its fourth quarter which works out to 45 cents US per share. After adjustments that exclude restructuring and acquisition costs, the loss was 3 cents per share – less than the analyst estimate of 10 cents per share. Revenue was $464-million, including a writedown of deferred revenue associated with recent acquisitions. Without that, it would have been $487-million. But that was below estimates of $563-million. The net result is that BlackBerry shares are down about 6 per cent after the announcement in premarket trading.

This isn’t good for BlackBerry who was thought to have been turning things around. I guess we will have to see if this is a blip, or a trend.

Export Development Canada which is a Crown corporation wholly owned by the Government of Canada, which provides financing and risk management services to Canadian exporters has decided to give a boost to BlackBerry by providing a loan to European telecom giant Vodafone that will be used to buy BlackBerry product. Here’s the details from The Globe And Mail:

Of the total loan package, $750-million will go to pay for purchases by Vodafone, one of the world’s largest wireless carriers, of the entire range of BlackBerry’s offerings, including equipment and services.

The five-year financing, to be announced Tuesday, is being made at “commercial terms,” but the rate is confidential, said Todd Winterhalt, EDC’s vice-president of international development.

Vodafone has been one of BlackBerry’s largest customers since it began selling the company’s smartphones to its business clientele in the early 2000s.

This is the second time that Export Development Canada has backed a Vodafone purchase of BlackBerry product. This is a vote of confidence in Blackberry from where I stand. A major European player agreeing to purchase Blackberry products in an amount equal to 20% of Blackberry’s current annual revenue. That simply cannot be ignored.