Sales and profits at IDW Media Holdings, parent of IDW Publishing and IDW Games, were up in its fiscal third quarter ended July 31, the company announced, primarily due to the airing of Wynonna Earp on Syfy and the related revenues to its IDW Entertainment division. Sales were down in the company’s core comic publishing segment, and up in games. Those quarterly trends were also true of the nine-month period ended July 31.
For the quarter, company gross revenues were $17.6 million, up from $13.4 million in the year ago period; and for the nine months, gross revenues were $41.6 million, up from $35.5 million in the first nine months of the previous fiscal year.
Wynonna Earp revenues were a big help: IDW Entertainment revenues were up $4 million for the quarter, and $7.5 million for the nine months.
Income from operations was up $691,000 for the quarter, and $285,000 for the nine months.
Offsetting the increased profits from Wynonna Earp, in the IDW publishing division revenues were down 1.5% for the quarter and 9.6% for the nine months, pulling down income from operations by $138,000 for the quarter to $367,000 and by $1,266,000 for the nine months to $700,000.
IDW attributed the nine month $1,962,000 decline in its publishing revenues to “softness in the comic book publishing industry, fewer ‘blockbuster’ publishing titles, timing of when new titles are released and competitive pressure from the major publishers.”
Game revenues were up by $164,000 (for games and creative services combined) for the quarter, and by $296,000 for the nine months.
During the current quarter, IDW is once again gearing up its comic publishing with sales of March booming on the release of the third volume, and the launch of Revolution, a crossover of its Hasbro properties, this month.
IDW Media Holdings completed its acquisition of Idea and Design Works by acquiring the final 17% of the company during the quarter in exchange for stock.
IDW also completed a raise of $4.1 million during the quarter, with the funds to be used to finance the IDW Entertainment division and for working capital (see “IDW Raising $4 Million”).