Liberty Media Posts Profit as QVC Sales Rise

Liberty Media Corp., controlled by cable television investor John Malone, posted a first-quarter profit of $254 million as sales rose at the QVC television shopping channel and the Discovery cable TV network.

Net income was 9 cents a share, contrasted with a loss of $10 million, or break-even on a per-share basis, a year earlier, the company said Monday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company reported a $768-million gain on investments and a $2-billion, or 14%, increase in sales.

Liberty boosted its 2005 forecast for profitability at QVC, the biggest unit, after international sales rose and more people bought high-margin items such as apparel. The Englewood, Colo.-based company said it would complete the spinoff of the newly created Discovery Holdings Co. in the second or third quarter, part of Malone’s plan to simplify Liberty’s structure and appeal to more investors.

“Fundamentally, everything is more than sound,” said Rob Routh, a Jefferies & Co. analyst. Malone has “really simplified the story and made it a lot easier for people to understand.”

Shares of Liberty rose 10 cents to $10.50 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Liberty holds an 18% voting stake in News Corp., and Malone is in talks to sell those shares within the next three months, News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said last week.

First-quarter revenue at QVC rose 14% to $1.46 billion, the company said. Profit before some costs in the unit should increase at a “mid-teens” percentage rate, the company said.

Liberty’s Discovery Communications Inc. unit, which will be spun off this year, boosted revenue 14%. Sales in the U.S. rose 9%, mostly from payments by cable systems, the company said.