The fiscal year loss was up substantially, to $4.93 million from a $748,000 loss in the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, due to big losses in the first three quarters of the fiscal year (see "IDW Publishing Loses $1.28 Million in Quarter").
Sales in the publishing segment were up year over year, to $26.6 million in fiscal 2023 from $25.8 million in fiscal 2022, largely due to growth in sales of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin. Sales in the entertainment segment dropped to near zero: $64,000 in fiscal 2023, down from $10.3 million in fiscal 2022. Company-wide revenues reflected the drop in entertainment sales, down to $26.7 million from $36.1 million in the previous year. IDW has begun allocating more of its expenses to unallocated corporate expenses, making the losses by segment not comparable to the previous year.
Cash flow is obviously a concern with losses that size, but the company said in its annual report that it expects to be able to fund its operations from its current cash balance of $3.6 million at the end of the fiscal year. That’s down from $10.0 million in cash at the end of October 2022, a bigger drop than the loss, due to growth in finished goods inventory and accounts receivable.
The company said that it expects to generate positive operating cash flow at an unspecified future point due to the operating expense changes it made in 2023. IDW cut staff in April (see "IDW Lays Off 39% of Staff, Delists Stock"), and its employee count remained down substantially at the October 31 annual report cutoff: 47 full time employees in 2023, compared to 84 employees on the same date in 2022.
Regardless, IDW is hedging its bets; the board authorized management to investigate raising an additional $2 million through a rights offering in October.