In a bid to manage costs, Edcon, the South Africa-based clothing retailer, on Tuesday said it may embark on a job-cutting process. The debt-ridden firm is trying to hoard as much money as possible to pay down its debt.

“This process may result in a reduction of headcount within Edcon’s head office. We cannot confirm numbers as yet,” Reuters quoted Edcon as having said.

Worries are increasing over Edcon’s ability to repay bondholders after Morgan Stanley published a note in September supporting a short position of the company’s debt, saying the capital structure was “unsustainable”. Edcon’s woes do not end there.

Last year, South Africa’s biggest provider of unsecured loans, African Bank Investments Limited (Abil), said it had become the secondary provider of credit to the clients of Edcon. At the time, it said this followed an obligatory arrangement the two companies had entered into.

As a secondary credit provider, Abil would provide credit to Edcon customers who do not fit within the Absa Bank credit criteria. The investment bank said clients would be granted credit based on its lending rules. But Abil collapsed last year under a heavy burden of non-performing loans (NPLs) and was rescued by the central bank of South Africa at a cost amounting to billions.