Express chief Desmond awards himself £9m

Richard Desmond's controversial takeover of Express newspapers has led to a pay and company profits bonanza for the pornography tycoon.

According to accounts to be filed later this year for Mr Desmond's Northern & Shell group at Companies House, the £125m acquisition of the Express titles has been a success. The expansion of the group has also seen Mr Desmond's remuneration as chairman and owner of the private Northern & Shell jump to nearly £9m in 2001.

Mr Desmond bought three national newspapers, Daily Express, Sunday Express and Daily Star, from Lord Hollick's United Business Media, at the end of 2000. The 2001 accounts show the company's first full year of performance as a national newspaper publisher. Mr Desmond made his fortune in pornography. Northern & Shell, which retains its top shelf titles, has said it intends to float on the stock market.

Last year saw group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) climb to £43.2m, from £9.1m the previous year. At the pre-tax level, profits came in just short of £20m. Turnover grew to £373m from £97m in 2000. The Express and Star papers were profitable, the company said.

Northern & Shell has until October to file the 2001 accounts. The figures include a £100,000 contribution made in 2001 to the Labour Party – this caused a furore when the donation was uncovered this year. The Government waved the Express acquisition through. Also listed in the accounts is £122,000 given to charities.

For this year, the company has forecast ebitda of £61.4m, which, it said, was "spot on target" in terms of its business plan. Northern & Shell has slashed costs at the Express.

The 2001 results saw Mr Desmond's pay soar. Last year he took home a salary of £5.74m and received a £3.10m pension contribution, taking the payout to £8.84m, compared with £3.43m in the previous year.

A spokesman for the company defended Mr Desmond's pay, saying it has kept pace with the performance of Northern & Shell – it was just £50,000 a year in 1993 to 1996 when he was getting his OK! celebrity magazine going. "Here's a man who invested £30m of his own money in buying the Express," the spokesman said.