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.

The retailer has drafted in restructuring specialists from KPMG and ­instructed them to draw up a list of contingency measures as fears grow that its finances will soon be stretched to breaking point.

The move follows a torrid few months for Debenhams, during which its fortunes have rapidly deteriorated. Its share price has sunk two thirds to less than 12p after a string of profit warnings, and it has had to renegotiate its banking covenants to avoid breaching them in the coming months.