The secrets of good business? Stability, loyalty and bums on seats

Mr McCarthy, who has worked in the media industry for 32 years, said stability in management was important. Other key qualities were continuity in management, acknowledging and building on experience, loyalty, and knowledge. "These are the important things," he said. "A stable organisation will always do much better than an organisation that has churn."

For success, Mr McCarthy said it was necessary to minimise head office interference.

"Head offices are too dictatorial and interfering You need to set your discipline centrally and decentralise creativity," he said. "Let them breathe don't shut them up with head office bureaucratic nonsense."

Mr McCarthy said he was a believer in internal promotion and that good management creates a ready pool of talent.