Cloud storage provider Box has announced it is cash flow positive for the first time after posting what it calls an ‘incredible’ fourth quarter – yet shares fell in the immediate aftermath of the results.
The company described the 2017 fiscal year as a ‘milestone’, hitting a record $109.9 million (£x) in quarterly revenue which represented a 29% from this time last year, with $398.6m, an increase of 26%, being the whole year’s total.
“Q4 was an incredible quarter for Box, closing out a record year of financial performance,” said Box CEO Aaron Levie, according to Seeking Alpha. “We’re excited to enter fiscal 2018 in a strong position.”
In its previous quarter’s analysis, as this publication reported back in December, the company said it was still on track to become cash flow positive. Levie told analysts that some of the firm’s customers have 600 million objects stored in the Box platform, revealing the depth of usage at the highest level.
Highlights for Box in the most recent quarter include expanded integrations with Microsoft and IBM, the launch of the new Box Notes web and desktop apps, as well as customer wins in the form of Volkswagen Goup of America, Discovery Communications, John Muir Health, and Spotify.
The IBM aspect was again noted in the analyst call, with Levie noting that while the alliance was currently going well, “you will see more success from the partnership this year than even last year.” The partnership with IBM has been cited as key to securing some of Box’s larger enterprise deals; Levie alluded to it here, while dissecting Q217 results back in September noting that IBM played a role in eight six figure deals closed in that quarter.
“Over the coming year, you will see us build amazing products that power how people work together. Our vision of cloud content management fits a major customer need and our product innovation will further drive enterprise adoption of Box,” Levie added. “We will also advance our global go-to-market efforts to extend our reach to enterprises all around the world.”
Shares in Box fell 8.1% after the company posted its guidance on Thursday. You can find out more here.
