Martha Stewart Profit Helped by TV Show, Ads

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.