Shares in Tidewater have lost more than a third of their value Thursday after the US offshore vessel giant missed earnings expectations and revealed that it might breach its debt covenants.

By afternoon trading, the shares had fallen 34.5% to $4 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The slump came after the New Orleans-based owner revealed that it is in discussion with its lenders and that it could breach interest ratio requirements on its debt by the end of the current quarter.

Tidewater chief executive Jeffrey Platt

The company also reported a worse-than-predicted net loss of $81.6m