Ruias-led Essar Oil today posted a decline of nearly 73 per cent in net profit at Rs 180 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, over the corresponding period a year earlier.
The energy major had a net profit of Rs 660 crore during the March quarter in the last financial year of 2008-09.
Net sales of the company stood at Rs 10,650 crore, during the last quarter of FY10, against Rs 6,985 crore of the same period last fiscal, Essar Oil said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
"We saw refining margins bottoming out in the last quarter. With the margins improving this quarter, we are hopeful that the refining business is gradually coming out of the doldrums," Essar Oil MD Naresh Nayyar said in a separate statement.
For the financial year ended March 2010, Essar Oil reported a net profit of Rs 29 crore, whereas it had a net loss of Rs 514 crore in the previous fiscal.
The results for the year ended March 31, 2010, are not comparable with those of the previous year, in view of start of commercial production in the refinery with effect from May 1, 2008, the company said.
Meanwhile, in a separate filing to the BSE, the oil major said that its Board of Directors, at its meeting held on April 13, has approved the resignation of Ravikant N Ruia, Vice- Chairman, from the Board with effect from March 30.
Last week, Essar Oil's parent firm Essar Energy had said it plans to raise $2.5 billion (about Rs 11,250 crore) through an initial public offer (IPO) and would list on the London Stock Exchange.
On Tuesday, shares of Essar Oil closed at Rs 149.10, down 2.17 per cent on the BSE.