Desmond's £46m payout puts Northern & Shell into red

by Staff,, Brand Republic 25-Oct-04, 08:45

LONDON - Richard Desmond, proprietor of Express Newspapers, paid himself a total of £46.2m in 2003, a figure that has pushed his privately owned company Northern & Shell into loss.

According to reports, the figures will be filed this week at Companies House, and will push Northern & Shell Networks into a filing an operating loss of £379,000.

The Sunday Times reports that Desmond's hefty pay packet last year included £31.1m in pension contributions, on top of his salary of £15.1m. This compares with a salary of £629,000 and a pension contribution of £20.3m in 2002.

Last year, Northern & Shell sold a number of the top-shelf titles that have landed Desmond in so much controversy, including Asian Babes and Big Ones.

Since then, he has been strengthening his portfolio of celebrity-based titles, with Star magazine and Hot Stars, as well as introducing Australian and Chinese editions of OK! He is also planning the launch of a women's title called B Happy, billed as an upmarket fashion and beauty weekly.

There are also reports that long-mooted plans for a London evening freesheet to competed with Associated Newspapers' Evening Standard are to be revived this week.

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