Debenhams calls in the company doctors

Early this week, the group seemed at death’s door. The prognosis is not quite that bad – but it’s not good news either. Alice Gråhns reports.

913-Debs-634

The 200-year-old retailer is facing a full-blown crisis

"Debenhams has parachuted in a team of top company doctors to draw up emergency turnaround plans as a full-blown crisis threatens to engulf the troubled department store chain," says Ben Marlow in The Daily Telegraph. Last weekend restructuring specialists from KPMG were called in and speculation mounted that the stricken department-store group was about to resort to a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), a corporate insolvency procedure entailing store closures and discounts on renting properties.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Explore More

Alice grew up in Stockholm and studied at the University of the Arts London, where she gained a first-class BA in Journalism. She has written for several publications in Stockholm and London, and joined MoneyWeek in 2017.