Martha Stewart's co eyes food, overseas

By Paul Thomasch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. is studying the launch of its own line of food products while also seeking to expand its magazine brand abroad, Chief Executive Susan Lyne said on Thursday.

Lyne, speaking at the Reuters Media Summit in New York, said the company could introduce a line of food products in 18 months or less. She said the concept is something they talk about "all the time" in terms of new retail deals.

"The only other category that we've talked about that would entail a different retail chain is probably food," Lyne said.

She said the company has many options, including foods as gift items, whole dinners and partially prepared foods.

"I say partially prepared because people still like to feel like they made it, and we want to encourage that," she said. "But we can make it easier for people, more convenient for them and upgrade the quality of the ingredients."

Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart built the media conglomerate bearing her name on recipes and decorating tips for more gracious living, delivered in the flagship Martha Stewart Living magazine as well as on radio and television shows.

Her company already has brand deals in place with retailers for a broad range of goods, including paints, furniture, housewares and home design.

MAGAZINE EXPANSION OVERSEAS

Lyne said that the company is also looking into expanding its magazine brands, starting with tests in three countries that could begin as early as 2007.

"We are just now exploring international editions," Lyne said. "We will probably test this out in smaller countries first. We have a fair amount of interest from a lot of different parts of the world."

Lyne told Reuters Television the expansion would likely be in Europe and Asia.

She said the international editions would likely take 60 percent of their content from Martha Stewart's print material, with the remainder from local providers.

"We're being careful about making sure we've got the right partner and we can see they have done quality international editions before," she said.

Martha Stewart Living is considering these possibilities as it approaches the end of what has been a turnaround year for the publishing company.

Its stock has risen nearly 20 percent since the beginning of the year on strong advertising performance at its magazines, Martha Stewart Living and Everyday Food. That outpaces the 12.2 percent gain of the benchmark S&P 500 Index.  Continued...