Cloud storage firm Box Q2 revenues up 20.6% to $148.2M

Cloud storage provider Box posted revenues of $148.2 million, registering a 20.6% increase for the second quarter ended July 31, 2018.

Net loss narrowed to $38.1 million in the second-quarter ended July 31 from $39.3 million a year earlier.

Box, which competes with Microsoft's OneDrive and Google's Drive, had more than 87,000 paying customers in the quarter, up from 85,000 in the previous quarter.

The company said the absence of a head for its Europe, the Middle East and Africa region took a toll on its operations.

"We were doing a search (for a new head of EMEA) for a number of months throughout the first half of the year," Chief Executive Officer Aaron Levie said, adding that it affected Box's ability to run its business smoothly. The company named Chris Baker as the head of the region earlier this month.

For the third quarter, Box sees revenue between $154 million and $155 million while analysts were expecting $155 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"We expect to have a non-GAAP profitability quarter in financial year 2019," Levie told Reuters, adding that Box is currently in the best position it has ever been competitively.

Earlier this month, rival Dropbox forecast third-quarter above Wall Street estimates, with the online storage firm earning more from a higher number of paying subscribers.

For the full-year 2019, Box forecast an adjusted loss of between 16 cents and 18 cents per share, while analysts, on average, were expecting a loss of 18 cents per share.

Box also raised the lower end of its full-year 2019 revenue forecast to $606 million from $603 million, keeping the higher end at $608 million.

(With inputs from Reuters)