A letter from Robert Matthews, chairman of Polestar Pension Trustees to the members of the scheme, seen by PrintWeek, revealed that the trustees have agreed to allow Polestar to defer 75% of the £3.33m due to be paid during the 10-month period.

In the letter Matthews said: "Polestar, like the rest of the printing industry, has experienced a very difficult year, resulting in a substantial decline in volumes and prices which has adversely impacted its cashflow.

"The Polestar Board recently approached the Trustee with a request to defer part of the company's monthly pension payments to the scheme… The Polestar Board believes this move will help the company continue to trade through this difficult time."

Both Polestar and the Trustees declined to comment on the deferral, which a spokeswoman described as "an internal matter".

However, in an unrelated interview with PrintWeek prior to Christmas, Polestar chief executive Barry Hibbert said that the company was now in a position to meet all of its debt obligations.

Speaking about the debt-for-equity swaps and two major refinancings undergone by the group Hibbert said: "It's got our balance sheet in a position where we can move forward, and even with the current difficult market conditions we can support the debt we have now."

The deferral will slash Polestar's monthly payments from £333,333 to £83,333 until 30 September, boosting its cashflow by £2.5m. However, the company will then be hit with three consecutive monthly repayments of £833,333 plus interest (charged at 8% per annum) starting in October.

Polestar's normal monthly installments of £333,333 will also resume in October 2010, to be paid quarterly, in advance, for the period from October 2010 to September 2011.

This means that Polestar will be hit with a combined pension payment of more than £1.8m in October this year.

Rivals of the UK's largest print company were quick to comment, with one opining: "I guess their investors are very unwilling to fund historical debts they had no control over. I am surprised the Trustees accepted it – the alternatives must have been much worse."