RiM Overhauls Management, Fifth Quarterly Sales Decline

Devan Biswas
30 Mar, 2012
New York City

Research in Motion announced more executive changes and vowed to focus on its core smartphone products as quarterly sales declined for the fifth quarter in a row.

[R]11:15 AM New York – Research in Motion announced more executive changes and vowed to focus on its core smartphone products as quarterly sales declined for the fifth quarter in a row.[/R]

Research in Motion Limited ((RIMM)) said fiscal fourth quarter sales declined 19% from the third quarter to $4.2 billion and net loss of $125 million or 24 cents a share. Adjusted net income was $418 million or 80 cents a share in the quarter.

Revenues plunged 25% from a year ago quarter of $5.6 billion.

In the quarter RiM shipped 11 million smart phones and 500,000 PlayBook tables.

The depth of the company’s struggle was evident in gross sales, unit sales and in the operating earnings.

However, Chief Executive Officer and President Thorsten Hein said that the company has 77 million subscribers around the world and the company is on track to deliver BlakBerry 10 platform in the “latter part of 2012.”

The recently appointed CEO did not rule out the sale of the company but said that is not the “main direction” of the management at the current time as the company battles the sales decline for the fifth quarter in a row.

A lot is riding on the next generation of the platform for the company as Google chips away at the low end of the smartphone business and Apple controls the top end of the high end of the business.

The budding alliance between Nokia and Microsoft is also likely to chip away at the market share of the once dominant Research in Motion.

During the quarter the company reported GAAP gross margin of $1.4 billion or 33.4% of revenue and recorded non-cash pre-tax goodwill impairment charge of $355 million and $345 million after-tax.

In the quarter the company recorded $197 million of after-tax charges related to certain BlackBerry 7 products.

At the end of the quarter the company cash and equivalents increased to $2.1 billion from $1.5 billion at the end of the previous quarter.

Operating cash flow in the quarter increased to $1.1 billion from $900 million in the third quarter.

For the fiscal year ending in March, the company revenues declined 7% to $18.4 billion and net income plunged to $1.2 billion or $2.22 a share from $3.4 billion from $6.34 a share.

In the year, gross margin was 35.7% of revenue and recorded mostly non-cash charge of $356 million after-tax related to PlayBook tablets.

The company also said it will stop issuing financial forecast as it overhauled its executive ranks and former co-CEO Jim Balsillie resigned from the board.

Customers are flocking to smartphones that have more touch screen navigation and easier navigation sold under Apple brands and Google supported operating system.

Research in Motion stock has declined more than 75% in the last one year and plunged 90% from its peak in 2008.

RiM is still a leader when it comes to offering proprietary operating system with dedicated networks and secured servers, a leading feature that large corporations still prefer and not available on Droid platform or Apple’s iPhone.