OTTAWA, Sept 27: BlackBerry said Friday that it lost $965 million in the past quarter, confirming preliminary figures showing a rapidly eroding picture for the Canadian smartphone maker.

The company, which had given an estimate for its second fiscal quarter results last week, acknowledged the figures were weak, but said it hopes for a turnaround with a planned $4.7 billion buyout, which would take the firm private.

“We are very disappointed with our operational and financial results this quarter and have announced a series of major changes to address the competitive hardware environment and our cost structure,” said Thorsten Heins, president and chief executive.

He added that the company is putting in place “the necessary changes to create the best business model” for its ailing product.

“We understand how some of the activities we are going through create uncertainty, but we remain a financially strong company with $2.6bn in cash and no debt,” Heins said.

“We are focused on our targeted markets, and are committed to completing our transition quickly in order to establish a more focused and efficient company.” Revenue for quarter ending August 31 was $1.6bn, down 49 percent from $3.1bn in the previous quarter and down 45 percent from $2.9bn in the same quarter of fiscal 2013.

The company said it shipped some 5.9m smartphones in the quarter, which is less than what Apple sold in the past weekend in the global launch of its new iPhones.

BlackBerry has said it will cut its global workforce by some 40 percent or 4,500 staff as it seeks to restructure the company.

Colin Gillis at the research firm BCG said the results were “startling weak “and may signal the end for BlackBerry.

“While we applaud the decision to focus on retooling the company into a niche enterprise-focused business, it seems years too late,” he said in a note to clients.

BlackBerry announced this week that it signed a letter of intent with a group led by Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, which has offered to acquire the company.—AFP