Meredith Corp., whose stock price has risen about 16 percent in the past year, said fiscal second quarter profits rose 4.5 percent as gains at its publishing division offset falling profits from its broadcasting operations.

Net income for the period ended Dec. 31 climbed to $20.2 million, or 39 cents a share, from $19.3 million, or 38 cents in the year-ago period. Revenues grew 11.4 percent to $280.4 million from $251.7 million.

Over the past year, Meredith, best known as the publisher of Better Homes and Gardens, has put several pieces in place to expand sales at its book, magazine and television divisions. These moves include contracts to produce books based on the popular “Trading Spaces” television program; the purchase of American Baby Group, which gave it access to young Spanish-speaking readers; continued growth in advertising pages at its large and mid-sized magazines such as Traditional Home and More; and ongoing management changes at its television stations.

Despite the drop in profits at its broadcasting division, analysts polled by Thomson First Call had expected the Des Moines-based company to earn 37 cents per share, and several credited Meredith’s broadcasting operations for helping push the company’s overall profits ahead of expectations.

“The upside surprise in the quarter was due to higher than expected broadcasting operating profit and lower than expected corporate expense,” wrote Merrill Lynch analyst Karl Choi in a note to clients. Choi has a “buy” rating on Meredith stock.

Of Meredith’s operations, the company’s broadcasting division has experienced the most far-reaching change in recent quarters as Kevin O’Brien, the unit’s president, has replaced sales managers, news directors and other personnel in an attempt to put together a more aggressive news culture that wins larger audiences.

During the year-ago second quarter, a spate of political advertisements related to the 2002 general election added $14.1 million in revenue that the stations didn’t receive in the most recent quarter, the company said. In the end, the division’s operating profits fell 21 percent to $21.3 million. Revenues slipped 9 percent to $73.5 million. Excluding political advertising, revenues would have climbed 10 percent to $71.5 million.

Several of Meredith’s stations gained audience share during the quarter, including KCTV in Kansas City, Mo., and KPTV in Portland, Ore. The division also continued an effort to combine content from some of its biggest magazines with local advertisements to boost profits and help them gain further traction among viewers. Revenues from that effort, which Meredith calls its Cornerstone program, jumped 50 percent, the company said.

“I am proud that in two short years we have created a broadcasting team with a winning culture and high expectations,” O’Brien said.

For the current quarter, O’Brien said he was confident that advertising sold for large events such as the Super Bowl would add to profits. About 95 percent of Meredith’s revenue from the Super Bowl is expected to be included in the third quarter, he said. The Super Bowl will be broadcast by CBS, and six of Meredith’s 12 stations are CBS affiliates. March’s NCAA college basketball tournament should help boost profits as well.

“We luckily have stations in basketball-crazy areas where the basketball teams are successful,” O’Brien said.

Operating profits within the company’s publishing division, which accounts for the lion’s share of Meredith’s total sales, rose 31 percent to $22.8 million. Revenues grew 21 percent to $206.9 million. Not including American Baby, the purchase of which Meredith completed in December, 2002, revenues would have risen 15 percent.  Advertising pages at Meredith’s two largest magazines, Better Homes and Gardens and Ladies’ Home Journal, rose 17 percent. Among magazines in the women’s service field, the two titles garnered 44 percent of all advertising spending for the 12 months ended with the December issues, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. The bureau said the number of advertising pages across all of Meredith’s magazines rose by 22 percent amid an industry decline of 3 percent.

Under Publishing Group President Stephen Lacy, Meredith renewed an agreement with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in which the retailing giant agreed to carry products that bear the Better Homes and Gardens logo.

Home Interiors and Gifts, the nation’s No. 1 marketer of home dÈcor items, is selling Better Homes and Gardens-branded home accessories and has 80,000 sales displays around the country. Meredith said that partnership had led to 30,000 new subscriptions for Better Homes and Gardens magazine and “thousands” of orders for its 12th edition of the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.

The company expects per-share earnings of 61 cents for the current quarter and $2.07 per share for the year. Meredith also repurchased 200,000 of its shares during the quarter as part of an ongoing stock repurchase program, Chief Financial Officer Suku Radia said.

The company also continues to look for ways to trim administrative expenses. Total employment at Meredith, excluding its purchase of American Baby, declined slightly from the year-earlier period to about 2,600 workers.