Sales of the Sunday Express have passed the 1m mark once more in April, with a year-on-year increase of 0.54% to 1,008,572 and nearly 5% more than March's circulation.
However, the Sunday title lags a long way behind its main rival, the Mail on Sunday, which enjoyed an ABC figure of 2,388,529 and had a year-on-year circulation increase of 6.5%.
More impressive were sales of Desmond's red-top tabloid, the Daily Star, which saw circulation rise nearly 13% year on year and 3.3% on the month. It was the only red-top paper to show a year-on-year increase.
Desmond has ploughed investment into the paper, with big-name signings such as sports writer Brian Woolnough who was poached from The Sun.
There was no such good news at the group's flagship title, the Daily Express. While it saw a slight increase in circulation, up 0.9% month-on-month to 983,890, year-on-year sales figures were down 9.4%. This compares with a month-on-month sales increase of 1.7% and a year-on-year sales increase of 3.8% for rival the Daily Mail. It outstrips the Daily Express with average daily sales almost two-and-a-half times more at 2,445,421.