BlackBerry Ltd announced Friday that it has completed the acquisition of Germany company Secusmart GmbH. The Dusseldorf-based company makes voice and data encryption software that protects voice, text and messaging communications against eavesdropping. Privately-held Secusmart sells encrypted mobile and landline phones to the German government.
The deal will boost BlackBerry’s credentials
BlackBerry agreed to acquire Secusmart in July after the German company ran into financial troubles. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. BlackBerry CEO John Chen said in a statement that the Secusmart deal underscores the Canadian company’s commitment to providing the best enterprise mobile security. The acquisition will set BlackBerry further apart from other in the industry, he added.
The move should boost BlackBerry’s credentials with security-conscious customers such as corporates and government agencies. Currently, German and Canadian governments use Secusmart’s technology to protect devices of their officials. It also protects the BlackBerry phone used by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. German government approved the deal in late November.
BlackBerry report steep decline in Q3 revenue
BlackBerry stock tumbled more than 6% on Friday after the company reported its third-quarter results. The Waterloo-based company surprised the Wall Street with a small profit, but missed on sales expectations. John Chen acknowledged that the company still needs to do a lot of work despite returning to a positive cash flow. Chen recently launched BlackBerry Classic smartphone to attract loyal fans who still love QWERTY keypad.
For the September-November period, the Canadian company reported adjusted earnings of $6 million or one cent per share, compared to analysts’ projection of a 5-cent a share in losses. Net loss for the quarter was $148 million or 28 cents a share, far better than a loss of $4.4 billion or $8.37 per share in the same quarter last year. However, investors were disappointed by a steep decline in its revenue. The company reported Q3 revenue of $793 million, missing the consensus estimate of $1 billion.
BlackBerry shares were down 5.09% to $9.56 at 11:37 AM EST on Friday.
