According to a statement, Price’s contract had been due to expire in April but had been “terminated with immediate effect”.

Paperlinx chairman Robert Kaye will act as executive chairman until a new chief executive is found.

Price was unavailable for comment at the time of writing.

Price became Paperlinx managing director and chief executive in September 2013. He joined the board in the summer of 2012 after he triggered an EGM to remove the business’s then chairman Harry Boon.

Under his tenure as chief executive the group’s underlying EBIT loss fell 71% from A$24.2m (£13.5m) in 2013 to A$7m in 2014. In Europe, the underlying EBIT loss fell 44% to €16m (£12.8m) in the same period.

According to Paperlinx: “The board believes the group will benefit from new leadership as it continues to evaluate all strategic options as part of the strategic review.”

In December 2014 Paperlinx launched a 90-day strategic review of its European, Asian (excluding Australia and New Zealand) and Canadian operations with Deloitte and investment bank Moelis and Company.

Speaking at the time Price said the company was "trying to spark some sort of consolidation".

"We haven't seen the upswing we hoped for, right across Europe. And what we're seeing is that we need to do things differently. We've had talks with all of the major paper groups across Europe – about mergers, about acquisitions and about disposals – and all offers are on the table," said Price in December.

As a result of the review, earlier this month the company sold its Canadian operation, Spicers Canada, to Central National-Gottesman for C$63m. The deal is expected to complete shortly.

In its statement the company said it was in discussions with several interested parties “which may or may not result in the sale or restructure of part or all of its European operations”, it added that it was also considering various refinance options.

One paper industry source said of Price’s departure: “Globally their problems are vast. While the UK might not be so bad in the scheme of things, the European business is in a right old mess.

“I do wonder if anyone could have fixed it, unless they were wearing their underpants on the outside, but this just adds more instability to the situation.”