Future would not comment on which of its titles were involved in the tender, although PrintWeek understands that it included all magazines printed for the publisher by both Wyndeham and Southernprint.

Future said the decision was made based on "capability, quality and price", following accusations by Wyndeham that the contract was awarded based solely on price.

A spokesman for Wyndeham said: "Wyndeham Heron has enjoyed an 18-year business partnership with Future Publishing where we have consistently delivered an extremely high-quality product and service levels.

"It is therefore hugely disappointing to lose the work solely on price, but we are not prepared to compromise our quality standards for such low returns."

Future responded: "As part of our normal business review process we invited tenders from printers for a number of our magazines.

"The quantity and quality of response was extremely high. We evaluated these bids based on the right blend of capability, quality and price, and Polestar and William Gibbons were both successful.

"We never compromise on the quality of our products, this is very important to us. We are very happy with our decision and look forward to a successful relationship going forward."

Meanwhile, Southernprint managing director Charles Jarrold has hit out at Polestar for what he sees as an unsustainable approach to pricing.

He said: "We chose not to go to the price levels that have been submitted. We find it utterly bizarre that a large loss-making competitor like Polestar sees that it is appropriate to offer these sorts of price levels in a world where all of our costs are going up. We are not prepared to operate at those price levels. We simply can’t.

"It wasn’t a terribly difficult decision for us frankly, although we clearly do not like walking away from long-standing customers with whom we have had a great relationship. We understand that they have their commercial reasons and we have no fundamental problem with that, they must make decisions in a way that they feel is in their interest."

James Povey, marketing director at Polestar, said: "We are delighted to have been successful in winning this work from Future. It is our understanding that we were certainly not the cheapest option. That is simply not our policy. The main reason we lose work is for reasons of price – in the UK and across Europe.

"Therefore, we really question the selective comments we have seen from these two competitors. Both have undercut Polestar on many occasions on both spot and contractual work, as buyers and printers who understand the market are well aware.

"The fact is, the industry continues to keep hold of equipment that is not sustainable for the future. Polestar has had the same issues and is continually reviewing capacity in line with market requirements. Supply and demand rules in printing, and while suppliers to the publishing industry continue to keep capacity open that is not sustainable, this is what we will be seeing.

"Polestar will never drive down market price. However, if we believe that both the work and market price is right for Polestar, we will compete, and as this exercise has proven, win."

For more, see next week's PrintWeek.