Debenhams Group has warned a small number of suppliers of late payments despite it securing a new £175m borrowing facility last month.
The company has written to some suppliers of one of its smaller brands telling them it was “running behind on payments” and has asked them to confirm how much stock they could deliver during September without being paid more, according to a company email seen by The Telegraph. The company confirmed the situation to FashionNetwork.com but it’s unclear which brand the issue relates to.
The threat of potentially withholding some supplier payments comes just months after the newspaper also revealed that customers were facing delays of up to a month of refunds on returned goods.
At the time, the business admitted that it was paying refunds for items that had been returned more slowly than usual, although did not offer an explanation for the delays.
The latest email comes amid growing financial strain on the group after its annual losses widened and sales fell almost 20%. The value of its net assets also shrank to just £3.9 million from £280 million a year earlier.
When asked to comment on the story, a spokesperson had told the newspaper: “A junior colleague, in one of our smaller brands, emailed a small number of suppliers to work on capacity planning.”
