Despite the slow growth year-on-year (y-o-y), IG Port has registered its highest half-year sales for FY2023 since FY2009, climbing by 0.62% to 5,622.92 million yen (≈43.70 million USD) from 5,588.06 million yen (≈43.43 million USD) the same period, the fiscal year before. Profit has also improved from what it reported for the half-year of FY2022, growing by as much as 9.01% to 392.41 million yen (≈3.05 million USD), not its best, however, it is still its second best to date since FY2009. All of its business segments were on the green side thanks to the reopening of the market, though, geopolitical issues, particularly in Europe, plus inflation are still a major concern.
Video Production Business
Much of its growth for the half-year can be attributed to its Video Production Business that performed strongly from June 1 to November 30, 2022. Sales have jumped 14.70% y-o-y to 3,165.54 million yen (≈24.63 million USD), driving profit up to 53.51 million yen (≈416.54 thousand USD) from the loss it made the fiscal year before. Throughout the half-year, the group derived sales from the Spy x Family project through its majority-owned (by 66.7%), Wit Studio for the production of both Part 1 (perhaps for the last few episodes since the broadcast ended on June 25) and Part 2 alongside CloverWorks (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aniplex), plus the upcoming film, Soukyuu no Fafner: Behind the Line, worked on Production I.G (of which it wholly owns), was also a contributor to sales. The movie is expected to come out nationwide on January 20 this year. Apart from that, the group was responsible for the production of animations for commercials and game machines that contributed to sales. That said, some projects did not go as well as they should and ended up in the red amid prolonged production periods and higher production costs.
The production of Spy x Family (left) and Soukyuu no Fafner: Behind the Line (right) were among its contributors to sales
Of the sales, 76.2% came from the distribution of TV and videos which was worth 2,412.06 million yen (≈18.77 million USD), while the production of Anime film(s) netted it 471.17 million yen (≈3.67 million USD), 14.9% of the share Then, Others contributed to roughly 9% of its total Video Production business sales (refer to the breakdown here).
Publishing Business
As for its Publishing Business, mainly through its mainstay monthly magazine “Comic Garden”, the segment released in total 54 new Manga volumes and books, plus 6 magazines throughout the half-year. Its Manga department saw the releases Mahoutsukai no Yome Volume 18, Reincarnation no Kaben Volume 16, Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai Volume 5 among others with two of the titles mentioned were featured on Oricon Top 30 and Top 10 sales charts. Mahoutsukai no Yome Volume 18‘s Regular Edition was seen at 36,365 copies sold in its first 3 days while Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai was featured twice; one for its Light Novel which 8th volume sold 8,677 copies between June 20 and June 26, 2022, and its Manga’s 5th volume at 19,196 copies, the same week as Mahoutsukai no Yome, both in their first 3 days as well. Note that these are only physical sales as tracked by participating stores in the daily Oricon surveys.
From left to right, Mahoutsukai no Yome Volume 18, Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai Volume 5, Reincarnation no Kaben Volume 16 were all released throughout the half-year of FY2023 with the last two were mentioned to have performed really well
According to IG Port, Reincarnation no Kaben and Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai had sold very well from June 1 to November 30, 2022, though that is not so apparent through Oricon’s sales charts. The group actually sold more e-books than it did for Manga and books for the half-year of which e-book sales alone accounted for 62.30% of the entire publishing segment sales. Manga and books on the other hand sold 310.03 million yen (≈2.41 million USD) worth of products which was only 21.5% of the share (refer to the breakdown here).
With that said, sales for its Publishing Business moved up by 6.09% y-o-y to 1,439.02 million yen (≈11.18 million USD), its strongest yet since FY2012, but profit dragged a little y-o-y to 307.27 million yen (≈2.39 million USD), yet it still remains to be its second best performance to date since FY2012.
Copyright Business
Copyright Business experienced a 37.10% drop in sales to 854.04 million yen (≈6.64 million USD) with profit nearly half of the amount it achieved the fiscal year before. Here, the group had earned receipts from the secondary use of titles such as Spy x Family, Shingeki no Kyojin, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Die Neue These, Koukaku Kidoutai, Haikyuu!! and others with strong sales seen for Spy x Family both domestically and internationally. Nevertheless, a decrease in income for other large-scale investment projects had caused the segment’s sales to fall.
Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Die Neue These – Sakubou (video) was worked on by Production I.G and was aired from September 30 to November 25, 2022, the studio was also listed as part of the production committee member, visible at the end credit
The segment earned 374.15 million yen (≈2.91 million USD) in copyright fees for the half-year, contributing to the largest share of the segment’s earnings, whereas royalties, 15.3% of the total segment sales, were worth 130.94 million yen (≈1.02 million USD). Others were at 40.8% (refer to the breakdown here).
Other Business
Finally, after years, and years of slow business, its Other Business where if derived sales from magazine illustrations, character product sales, smartphone applications etc., finally reported a profit (since FY2020) of 8,796 million yen (≈68.43 thousand US) after posting its best half-year sales so far since FY2018 at 164.32 million yen (≈1.28 million USD).
Expectations for Quarter 3 and Quarter 4
The group is expected to go strong into Quarter 3 and Quarter 4 for the fiscal year with a number of projects in its pipeline that can help strengthen its video production and copyright earnings. Production I.G is working on two film projects that are set to be released in March and May this year: Rakudai Majo: Fuuka to Yami no Majo and Psycho-Pass Movie: Providence while Wit Studio is looking at (its closest) Ousama Ranking: Yuuki no Takarabako, a TV series that will be broadcasted in spring of 2023. Though, Kizuna no Allele (a joint with Signal.MD of which the group wholly owns) may contribute to sales via video production. Then, Hikari no Ou, that is worked on by Signal.MD will add on further as to its video production sales, at the same time, Production I.G being part of the committee will ensure that it derives sales via secondary use.
From left to right, Rakudai Majo: Fuuka to Yami no Majo, Psycho-Pass Movie: Providence and Ousama Ranking: Yuuki no Takarabako are expected to bolster IG Port’s earnings in Quarter 3 and Quarter 4.
IG Port, Inc. is incorporated in Japan with its head office in Musashino-shi. The group wholly owns Signal.MD, Mag Garden and Production I.G while Wit Studio is owned by 66.7%. It is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under ticket symbol: 3791.
Note: All currency conversion were done at the time of writing.
Sources:
FY2023 Quarter 2 Report
FY2023 Summary of Accounts
Please use the links below if you prefer Google charts:
Groupwide Sales and Profit Progression
Video Production Segment Sales and Profit Progression
Publishing Business Segment Sales and Profit Progression
Copyright Business Segment Sales and Profit Progression
Other Business Segment Sales and Profit Progression
Visualisations:
IG Port Half-year Performance (Simplified)
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