Hearnden joined the group from Wyndeham Press Group in 2007, and was elevated to the group sales position at the end of 2009.

Polestar chief executive Barry Hibbert said sales was now "decentralised", although further details of the fresh structure were unavailable.

Hearnden is understood to be on gardening leave and was not available for comment at the time of writing.

The role of business development director Daniel Turner, who specialised in gravure export sales, has also been made redundant.