Canada: BlackBerry in surprise profit

BLACKBERRY chief executive John Chen said revenue was nearing a bottom as he proceeded with his turnaround, including selling more software to professional customers. The company reported on Friday a surprise fourth-quarter profit of 4 cents a share after cutting costs, while sales slid 32 percent to $660 million (R7.9 billion) from a year earlier. Three years earlier, BlackBerry posted revenue of more than $5bn. Sales would drop as low as $500m, Chen told journalists on Friday at BlackBerry headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario. – Bloomberg