The future of Aquascutum was in doubt last night after the luxury goods group put its entire 343-strong workforce into consultation — the first step towards making staff redundant.

The move came a week after the company’s owner, the Japanese manufacturer Renown, parachuted a new managing director, Yukio Ueda, into the business. This followed the sudden departure of Kim Winser, Aquascutum’s previous chief executive, who left two weeks ago after a failed attempt at a management buyout.

The situation has also been confused by the failure of the Hong Kong-based YGM Trading, Aquascutum’s distributor in China and South-East Asia, to come forward with a formal offer for the business. YGM was named by Renown as a preferred bidder for Aquascutum on Tuesday last week. Despite signing a letter of intent, no formal agreement to buy the brand has since been entered into.

In a brief statement last night, Aquascutum said: “Further to the review of the company structure that Mr Ueda . . . is undertaking, Mr Ueda has announced this morning the start of a consultation period with its workforce. Details will not be clarified until it is confirmed whether YGM Trading will be pursuing their purchase of the business. It is expected that a first consultation meeting will be held towards the end of June.”

Founded in 1851, Aquascutum produced the first waterproof wool, which was used in 1854 to supply coats for British Army officers serving in the Crimean War. Its first royal client was King Edward VII, for whom the label created a coat in the Prince of Wales check. Other famous customers include the Queen Mother, Baroness Thatcher, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Sophia Loren and Cary Grant. The current ambassador for Aquascutum, which was bought for £74 million by Renown in 1990, is Pierce Brosnan, the former James Bond actor.

Meanwhile, Debenhams, Britain’s second-biggest department store chain, is expected to announce today that it is raising more than £300 million through a rights issue. The cash call will be accompanied by confirmation that TPG and CVC Capital Partners, the private equity firms, which own 12.8 and 8.4 per cent, respectively, of Debenhams, are selling down their stakes.

They controversially floated Debenhams on the stock market in 2006, less than three years after taking it private and having loaded it with more than £1 billion in debt. Institutions that invested in the flotation were subsequently angered by the fall in Debenhams’ shares, which plunged from the 195p offer price to 20½p at one point last November.

Debenhams has been looking for some time to reduce its debts, which stand at just under £900 million after the company paid down £100 million last month. No further payments are due until next May, but it is thought that Debenhams is keen to act now in view of the recent recovery in its shares, which last night finished down 1¼p at 92¼p, after signs of a sustained improvement in trading.

The rights issue, in which Merrill Lynch is said to be lead book-runner, is expected to see investors invited to buy new shares at about 82p each.

Debenhams declined to comment.

• New Look, the fashion retailer, claimed that it was taking market share from discount stores such as Primark after reporting a strong increase in annual sales. Reporting total sales for the year to March 28 up 14.9 per cent to £1.3 billion, Carl McPhail, the chief executive, said that New Look had won business in the past year from operators such as Marks & Spencer, Next and Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia businesses. He added: “We are also getting some from the discounters and the supermarket people.”

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