BS reported that Ruias promoted Essar Energy announced a pre tax loss of USD 1.15 billion (about INR 6,509 crore) for the 15 months ended March 31. The London listed company has now changed its accounting period from years ending December to those ending March, and therefore, brought out the results for the 15 month.

The London-listed company’s pre tax profit recorded in the year ended December 31 2010 stood at USD 365.5 million.

In January, the Supreme Court had ruled the company was not eligible for incentives for industrial investment in Gujarat under the ‘Capital Incentive to Premier and Prestigious Unit Scheme 1995-2000’. The court also rejected the 125% sales tax deferment benefit it had claimed on its investment in the Vadinar refinery project.

The company said the sales tax deferment ruling in January led to the pre tax loss. The results also included the negative impact of exceptional items worth USD 1.28 billion.

However, revenues in the 15 month period ended March 31 more than doubled from USD 10 billion in December 2010 to USD 22 billion, primarily due to higher refining and marketing revenues in India, owing to high selling prices, and the acquisition of the Stanlow refinery. Essar had acquired the Stanlow refinery near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire from Royal Dutch Shell for USD 350 million.

Mr Naresh Nayyar CEO said that “We are now very much an operational energy business, with many construction projects completed, and our capex investment programme has peaked. The expansion of our Vadinar refinery has been very successful, putting the plant on a par with the best in the world. Here, high-value fuels can be created from lower-cost, ultra heavy crudes.”

He added that “Coupled with our low cost base, this would permit a step change in margins. We are also making good headway at our Stanlow refinery, with a number of initiatives to improve margins by at least USD 2 a barrel over the next 18 months.”

Source - Business Standard

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