Group finance director Peter Johnston said the company was in the "early stages of discussions" with its shareholder, although chief executive Barry Hibbert and operations director Peter Andreou are known to have visited Drupa with a wish-list of new web offset kit, including two 80pp presses.
Johnston told PrintWeek: "Since being bought by Sun we have looked at acquisition opportunities in the market place. To date those opportunities have not proved attractive, either due to unrealistic aspirations on price or a disproportionate amount of debt.
"As a result we have moved away from an acquisitive model to an organic growth model."
The group has filed its results for the year to 30 September 2011, although events surrounding its pre-pack sale to Sun in April 2011 have resulted in large write-offs in the figures.
Sales at trading wing Polestar UK Print were down 11% to £233.1m, mainly due to the closure of most of the gravure capacity at Varnicoat and contraction in the volume of print for retail customers.
The business posted an operating profit of £6.4m (2010 loss: £12.1m), in part due to a £14m gain in restructuring costs. This included a £23.3m reduction in its pension liability after ties to the scheme were cut as part of the sale to Sun.
The bottom line loss, including £64.2m attributable to losses on disposal of investments and the write-off of loans from the former parent company and subsidiaries, was £70.6m.
However, Johnston said that at a consolidated group level the comparable EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) was "broadly flat" at £30.1m (2010: £30.8m). "Looking forward into 2012 we expect a modest improvement as our cost reduction actions kick in," he stated.
During the past year Polestar has reduced direct and indirect headcount by 260, and implemented new working practices at Colchester as part of a plan to make cost savings of £10m.
The group structure has been vastly simplified compared with the previous organisation, which involved more than 70 separate companies, and Johnston said the business was in better shape going forward: "We now have a capital structure that is entirely appropriate for the business, for the first time in Polestar's history."
