Profiles of Northern & Shell's Stan Myerson usually follow a well-worn path. Make reference to the legendary "hard man" of media's unique and forthright way of doing business. Allude to his boss Richard Desmond's penchant for a banana delivered to him on a silver platter every morning and his goose-stepping during a notorious meeting with the Telegraph.
Highlight the pair's background in soft-porn magazines. And reflect the feeling in the close-knit newspaper and magazine world that the duo of self-styled "outsiders" aren't quite part of the media "club" and won't survive long.
Myerson's antics have certainly provided plenty of copy for Private Eye over the years. But when I meet the group joint managing director at the Northern & Shell HQ near Tower Bridge, he is on best behaviour and surprisingly softly spoken. It is 40 minutes before he utters his only swear word of the interview.
The adult mags - such as Asian Babes, Readers' Wives and Penthouse - have gone, sold in 2004, although the company still operates very profitable adult TV channels. Northern & Shell is in rude financial health, posting impressive pre-tax profits of £52m in 2007 that drew grudging admiration from even the company's harshest critics.
Myerson and Desmond's "outsider" tag was further underlined when they pulled out of the Newspaper Marketing Association and Newspaper Publishers Association industry bodies that the other nationals belong to.
But Myerson is unapologetic. "We are outsiders," he says. "And we certainly weren't embraced by the newspaper industry. It's not a reflection of those bodies, but we didn't feel we were getting anything special out of them.
"We're not interested in putting two fingers up to people and saying: 'I told you so.' That's when things go wrong. One thing I learnt from Richard is to stay absolutely focused on the business. We love our newspapers and magazines and we have great fun doing it."
Jewel in the crown
OK! is the jewel in their crown. It retains its number one position in the celebrity market, with a weekly circulation of 607,000 and news-stand sales up 10% year on year. Recent buy-ups helped it power ahead of rival Hello! - including scoops such as the Wayne Rooney and Coleen McLoughlin wedding, which sold two million copies.
"You've got to get the big buy-ups consistently and invest in the total package," Myerson explains. "With OK!, people get three magazines for the price of one - Hot Stars for the younger audience and a US section." OK! even increased its cover price last October, from £2.00 to £2.99. "To have increased price by 50% and circulation by 10% in a tough market is testament to the strength of OK!," says Myerson.
And now OK!'s $100m investment in the US is starting to pay dividends, all without borrowing, according to Myerson. "We're breaking even in America, selling more than a million copies a week, and ad revenues have picked up dramatically," he says. "We're already making profits on individual issues - $150,000 on one coming up."
Northern & Shell's Star is more irreverent and tries to catch celebrities off guard, a la Heat. The title is up 13% year on year and continues to expand, selling 287,000 copies a week. New! has a more real-life tone and sells 434,000 copies per week. "We've done well with the British magazines and we're very proud of them," says Myerson.
Newspapers, however, are a different matter. The group's year-on-year August ABCs were shocking, with the Daily Express down 9.5%, Sunday Express 16.9%, Daily Star 8.9% and Star on Sunday a whacking 24.3%.
The Express modestly bills itself as "10 times better than the Mail and 10p cheaper" and "The World's Greatest Newspaper". But while their papers are still extremely "cash generative", Myerson and Desmond have patently failed to replicate OK!'s win over Hello! in the battle of the Express against deadly rival the Daily Mail.
"It's very tough for us and other publishers," admits Myerson. "Circulations are down. We've taken all our bulks out, so what we show is what we sell - we're not kidding ourselves about the market. We've recognised it's tough, so we have controlled costs across the newspaper division."
Ruthless attitude
That "control" is on show again as Express Newspapers prepares to cull 80 more editorial jobs from an already threadbare team.
The strategy is classic Desmond and reveals the ruthless attitude that underpins profits at Northern & Shell. Myerson says ad costs and cover price will also be looked at as newsprint, energy and transport costs soar over the next 12 months.
"To maintain profit, you have to take this into account," he says. "Newspapers are buying less newsprint because circulations are down, but we have to bear increased prices. We would prefer not to look at cover price, but, frankly, we all have to get a grip on reality."
Some are surprised there's any fat left to trim from the newspapers, but Myerson demurs. "There are basic costs in producing the product," he says.
"When we bought the group, there were far too many journalists and salespeople. We've looked at the circulation needed to keep it viable, but you can scale most operations down if you have to."
CV
2000: Group joint managing director, Express Newspapers and Northern & Shell
1999: Group joint managing director
1995: Group ad sales director, Northern & Shell
1994: Assistant to managing director
1985: Deputy group ad director
1983: Group advertising contracts controller, Express Newspapers
1981: Ad manager, Daily Express
October 1980: Deputy ad manager, Daily Express
1979: Group head, Daily Star
1974: Solicitor in his native South Africa
Family: Divorced from OK! executive Renee. Three children - Natasha, 25, Natalie, 21, and Richard, 19
Car: Recently swapped Bentley for a BMW
Desert island media: Financial Times
MYERSON ON ...
His image: We all get older and wiser. Perhaps I was over the top in the past, but one learns from that. I would still be firm, but in a different way. We run a tough business firmly but fairly.
Richard Desmond: I know what Richard thinks and he knows what I think. If I need to clear something, I can access him 24 hours a day and have a straight answer within 10 seconds.
Adult magazines: We needed to get rid of those interests. They didn't sit comfortably with our other magazines. They were very profitable businesses, but the time had come to sell them.
Associated Newspapers: It's a very interesting company. It is spending a fortune to maintain sales, yet circulations are down. If you were to strip out Ireland and its bulks, it is selling about 1.7 to 1.8 million newspapers.
Charging for incoming calls: We make about £100k a year from premium rates for incoming calls, but at some stage that will come to an end with a change in Icstis regulations. It seems to be less of an issue than it was.