BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is preparing to sell its remaining properties in Canada by the end of the summer to enhance operations and increase efficiency. Around 80% of the assets were already sold in the first quarter of fiscal year 2015 and the remaining 20% will be sold in the second quarter of fiscal 2015, according to the regulatory filing with the U.S. SEC last week.
BlackBerry takes forward its CORE program
In the first quarter of fiscal 2015, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) concluded the sale of a number of real estate assets under its CORE program, according to the regulatory filing.
Back in May, the Waterloo-based firm entered into an agreement with Spear Street Capital to sell several properties for around $278 million and lease back a part for the company’s day-to-day affairs. In March, BlackBerry’s United States office in Texas was sold to Brookfield Property Group.
In 2014, the company stated that it will “strategically divest” the major portion of its Canadian commercial real estate portfolio, which includes as much as 3 million square feet of office space through a combination of sales, lease backs and vacant asset sales.
Better than expected results
The smartphone maker is taking these steps under its Cost Optimization and Resource Efficiency Program (CORE), which includes reducing number of employees by about 4,500 to bring the global workforce to 7,000 people. BlackBerry is aiming to achieve break even on cash flow by the end of fiscal 2015.
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is adopting these strategies to save as much cash as possible to fund its rebound efforts in the wake of aggressive competition from Apple iOS and Google’s Android operating system-based smartphones.
Last week, the Canadian firm reported a net profit of $23 million, which was above expectations as smartphone sales surged along with the higher adoption of enterprise services. In the March-May quarter, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) sold 1.6 million smartphones and issued 1.2 million BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 licenses, which is a silver lining for the company. In the previous year, same quarter, the company posted a net loss of $84 million. Revenue for the quarter came in at $966 million, which is a decline of 1% from the same quarter last year.
