Hasbro Inc , the No. 2 toy company, posted a higher second-quarter profit on Monday, boosted by demand for toys such as G.I. Joe and Transformers linked to popular summer movies.

Net profit rose to $39.3 million, or 26 cents a share, from $37.5 million, or 25 cents a share, a year earlier.

Sales rose 1 percent to $792.2 million.

Hasbro recently announced a joint venture with Discovery Communications for a television network and website that will carry children's programs featuring brands like G.I. Joe, My Little Pony and Transformers.

Because of lower expenses, the joint venture will hurt profit less than Hasbro had thought, the company said. It now expects 2009 earnings per share to take a hit of 15 cents to 20 cents, while it had previously forecast the impact at 25 cents to 30 cents.

(Reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)