IDW Publishing, which publishes both comics and games, booked a roughly $100,000 profit in its first fiscal quarter ended January 31, a welcome interruption to a string of losses for the division.  Meanwhile IDW Media Holdings, which includes IDW Entertainment and brochure distribution company CTM in addition to IDW Publishing, lost $6.8 for the quarter due to losses in the other two divisions, according to the company’s quarterly report.

The turnaround in IDW Publishing, even if temporary, was a welcome change from the recent past, with losses of $5.2 million for fiscal 2019 and $3.4 million in 2018 (see "IDW Publishing Lost $800,000 in Fiscal Q4, $5.2 Million for the Year").

New division Clover Press, which has results consolidated with IDW Publishing, accounted for roughly a $200,000 loss for the quarter, partially offsetting a $300,000 profit in the rest of IDW Publishing.

Management attributed the improvement in performance of IDW Publishing to increased sales of Locke & Key books behind the Netflix series, and pre-sales of its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures game.  Publishing sales were $6.3 million for the quarter, up 21% from sales of $5.2 million in the corresponding quarter last year.

IDW Entertainment lost $5.6 million for the quarter behind costs associated with October Faction, and CTM lost $1.1 million.