RIM quarterly profits soar 73%

Shares of Canada-based Research In Motion (RIM) surged nearly 17% after the BlackBerry maker's first-quarter earnings grew 73% on increased sales and subscriber additions, an Associated Press report said.

The Associated Press report said for the quarter ended June 2, RIM earned $223.2 million up from $128.8 million in the year-ago quarter.

Adjusted net income, which excludes a $5.3 million stock option expense, came to $228.5 million, RIM said.

The positive results came a day before Apple.'s heavily hyped iPhone is launched, the Associated Press report said.

'I think they did a great favor because they drove attention to the converged appliance space,' RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie was quoted by the report as saying.

The company's sales totaled $1.08 billion, up 77% from $613.1 million last year.

RIM said 76% of first-quarter revenue came from device sales.

The results easily topped analysts' expectations for earnings, the report added.

RIM had higher expenses during the quarter, $276.2 million compared with $175.9 million in the same period last year, but its strong sales growth kept earnings ahead of last year's results, the report said.