As if things couldn’t get any worse for Research in Motion, makers of the Blackberry handsets, - after its below-target revenue figures and loss of senior executives, a key figure of its earnings couldn’t be revealed during a live webcast last night.

If not under-prepared, the webcast was certainly under-rehearsed, as chief financial officer, Brian Bidulka stumbled his way around the fourth quarter inventory provision, before admitting the figures he had in front of him were wrong.

After a pause, exacerbated by the medium, Bidulka finally gives up, saying: “I’ll get back with that figure.”

The results highlighted the continued pressure on earnings that RIM is expecting throughout fiscal 2013. They also used the opportunity to announce they would no longer provide quantitative guidance in a bid to focus on long term value creation.

Reg Hoare, a Managing Director of MHP Communications and a director of The Investor Relations Society , says: “RIM’s decision to stop providing specific quantitative guidance on revenues and earnings follows a trend seen in the US in recent years, that thankfully has not been widely repeated in the UK. For most investors and analysts less transparency inevitably results in a loss of confidence in IR and corporate comms.”

RIM announced that fourth quarter revenue was $4.2 billion – a lower figure than the $4.5 billion expected by analysts, a 19% drop from the previous quarter and a 25% decrease from the same quarter of fiscal 2011.

RIM also announced three employee departures, with Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO, retiring from his post as a board director, David Yach, chief technology officer, resigning following 13 years employment and Jim Rowan leaving his post as COO global operations.

The company stated they are currently reviewing their strategy and aim to focus on the business market, rather than the consumer sector.