Martha Stewart Profit Helped by TV Show, Ads
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Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. posted its first quarterly profit in two years, helped by Martha Stewart’s syndicated television show and magazine advertising gains.
Fourth-quarter net income was $2.95 million, or 6 cents a share, after a net loss of $7.33 million, or 15 cents, a year earlier, the New York company said. Sales rose 40% to $84.5 million, topping the company’s $80-million forecast.
The results show signs that Chief Executive Susan Lyne is regaining the confidence of advertisers after founder Martha Stewart’s obstruction-of-justice conviction prompted them to pull ads. Sales in the magazine unit gained 57%, and Lyne is fueling new markets with a line of crafts products and investments in the company’s website.
The company also said it expanded a deal to design homes for Los Angeles-based builder KB Home to include developments in Southern California, Las Vegas and other regions.
The two companies said last year that Stewart would design houses in a KB Home community in Cary, N.C. The overwhelming demand, KB said, prompted the companies to extend the agreement and to offer a new line of interior and exterior home products developed by Stewart to all KB Home buyers.
Martha Stewart shares rose $2.39, or 14%, to $18.88.
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