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Canadian mobile phone firm Blackberry has seen its quarterly losses shrink thanks to higher software revenue.

The company made a net loss of $28m (£18m) in the three months to the end of May, a bigger loss than analysts had expected, but less than the $60m loss it made a year ago.

Shares rose more than 8% as a slide in revenue showed signs of slowing.

Crucially for the firm, revenues from its software business more than doubled from a year ago to $137m.

Blackberry has been focusing on software and services in a bid to move away from its reliance on handsets.

It reported total revenue for the period of $658m, slightly lower than the previous quarter.

"Our performance in [the first financial quarter] demonstrates that we are firmly on track to achieve important milestones," said Blackberry chief executive John Chen.

"Looking forward, we are focusing on our growth plan to enable our return to profitability," he said.