Blackberry Limited called the sales cycle for this on Tuesday Cyber security Software has gone long and expects the current macroeconomic environment to present more challenges in the near term.
The Canadian technology company said that revenue from its cyber security business will remain flat in the first half of 2023 but will increase in the second half of the year.
Cyber security businesses have not been affected by economic ups and downs as compared to other software sectors which are grappling with low spending budgets of customers amid rising costs.
BlackBerry beats revenue expectations on cyber security demand
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BlackBerry CEO John Chen said the cyber security business is gaining momentum again and there is evidence that investment will drive growth next year.
Revenue from the segment fell nearly 17% to $106 million in the third quarter.
US-listed shares of the company were marginally down in extended trading. They have fallen about 56% so far this year.
Growth in the electric vehicle industry and the adoption of connected-car and other safety technologies have led to growth in sales of BlackBerry’s automotive and embedded technology products.
Sales in the Internet of Things (IoT) unit, which includes BlackBerry’s QNX automotive software product, rose nearly 19% to $51 million in the reported quarter.
The company expects the segment to grow between 15% to 18% this year.
The company said it was seeing some tightness in the North American and European automotive markets, but that the markets for its QNX automotive software were strong in China and India.
BlackBerry reported a net loss of $4 million for the three-month period ended November 30, compared with income of $74 million a year earlier.
Revenue fell 8.2% to $169 million from $184 million. Analysts on average were expecting revenue of $168.7 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguly)