14 DAY TRIAL // On Wednesday, Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion Limited (RIM) announced financial results for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2010, as well as those for the entire fiscal year, which ended February 27. According to the company, its revenues for the entire fiscal year was of $14.95 billion, marking an increase of 35 percent when compared to the $11.07 billion registered during the previous year. During the fourth quarter, the company added 4.9 million net new BlackBerry subscriber accounts, reaching 41 million total BlackBerry subscriber base.
Revenue in Q4 was $4.08 billion, an 18 percent growth when compared to the $3.46 billion registered in the same time frame a year ago, and up 4 percent from $3.92 billion in the third quarter of fiscal year 2010. At the same time, RIM also announced that revenue was 80 percent for devices, 16 percent for services, 2 percent for software and 2 percent for other revenue.
During the quarter, the handset vendor reported gross margin of 45.7 percent, up from 42.7 percent a quarter ago, and said it managed to ship 10.5 million devices in the time frame, with a total of around 37 million devices during the entire fiscal year 2010.
“RIM has completed another outstanding fiscal year with record revenue, earnings and subscriber results. Our company and partnerships continued to thrive within one of the most dynamic industries in the world. We managed to significantly expand our international market share while also maintaining our longstanding leadership in North America where BlackBerry continues to be the top selling smartphone brand,” said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “We are off to a great start in fiscal 2011 and expect strong shipments, revenue, subscriber and earnings growth in Q1. We are also very excited about our portfolio of products and services for the coming year and we continue to see exceptional opportunity for sustained growth.”
RIM also revealed that net income for the year was $2.46 billion, or $4.31 per share diluted, marking an increase of 29.8 percent when compared to the previous year. During the quarter, the company registered a net income of $710.1 million, or $1.27 per share diluted, up both quarterly and on an yearly basis. When it comes to the first quarter of fiscal 2011, the company expects revenue to be in the range of $4.25-4.45 billion, with a gross margin of around 44.5 percent. The company also notes that net subscriber account additions should be of 4.9-5.2 million, while earnings per share are expected to range from $1.31 to $1.38 per share diluted.