Debenhams has put hundreds of roles across its fashion and home departments into consultation as it strips layers of management out of the business, Retail Week can reveal.

The department store chain expects to make 80-90 employees redundant and intends to have the new structure in place by October 1. It comes after a wave of job cuts across ecommerce, international, and buying and merchandising earlier this year.

Debenhams said: “We announced our intention to restructure our organisation around three business units: beauty and beauty services, fashion and home, and food and events earlier this year. Our work to create a simplified and consistent structure across these units, reducing complexity and driving efficiency in order to deliver our Debenhams Redesigned strategy, is continuing.”

The struggling retailer has issued three profit warnings this year following a drop in sales.

It announced in June that it expected full-year pre-tax profits to be in the region of £35m-£40m, down from the previous consensus of £50.3m.

It attributed the shortfall to “increased competitor discounting and weakness in key markets” and added that “trading in May and early June has been below plan despite weak comparatives”.

EBITDA is expected to be between £160m and £165m. The retailer plans to continue “key strategic initiatives” but is reducing its capex, so net debt should be lower than last year at around £320m, giving it headroom of £200m within its banking facilities.

It will also conduct a strategic review of non-core assets in a bid to free up investment for its strategy.

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