Shares in Ausdrill have plunged after the mining services provider flagged another hit to its profit.
The drilling, blasting and earthmoving company has warned a recovery in the mining services industry, hit by weaker demand and falling commodity prices, will be slower than it previously expected.
Ausdrill has been reviewing the value of its assets in light of tough conditions, and the company now expects to take a further $60 million to $80 million pre-tax hit to its full year profit.
That is in addition to a pre-tax impairment expense taken by Ausdrill in the first six months of the 2013/14 financial year.
The latest writedown primarily relates to the company's goodwill - the value of intangible assets including brand reputation and customer relations.
"A review of the company's longer-term forecast on the back of the recent fall in the iron ore price and continued challenging market conditions have resulted in a view being taken that the recovery of the Australian mining services sector will be slower than Ausdrill had previously anticipated," the company said.
Ausdrill also said it would be hit with a $2.7 million tax bill in Mali as a result of the removal of a corporate tax exemption.
Shares in Ausdrill dropped by as much as 16.9 per cent on Wednesday, and at 1500 AEST were down 6.5 cents, or 6.1 per cent, at $1.00.
The company now faces a tough time luring back investors, managing partner at wealth management firm 100 Doors Peter Esho said.
"The industry is very difficult at the moment. Sentiment is very poor," he said.
"I think it's going to be very, very difficult to win back market trust."
The company's half year profit was down 70 per cent from a year earlier at $14.5 million.
Ausdrill has since endured a string of bad news.
In June it downgraded its expectation for its 2013/14 annual profit to between $25 million and $30 million, excluding one-off items such as writedowns.
It has since been dropped from the list of the top 200 companies on the share market, and ratings agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's have lowered their ratings on the company.
Ausdrill's finalised annual results will be released later this month.
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