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Modern Times Group, Sweden's largest publicly traded media company, said first-quarter profit surged almost 11-fold after it sold shares in TV4.

Operating cash flow rose to 479 million kronor ($68 million) from $6.4 million in the year-earlier quarter, the Stockholm-based company said Thursday. Sale of the TV4 stake led to a gain of $55 million in the quarter.

Sales rose 11% to $247 million in the first quarter, beating the average estimate of $237 million expected by analysts.

Sales at MTG's terrestrial channels in Scandinavia rose 16% to $95 million from a year earlier, while operating profit surged to $8.2 million from a net loss of $17 million a year ago. Revenue at TV3 in Sweden, Denmark and Norway climbed 15% to $80 million.

At the pay TV division, first-quarter sales rose to $86 million from $81 million, mainly due to higher subscriber growth and the launch of seven new channels since the beginning of 2004.

CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht said the company wants to buy Denmark's state-owned TV2.