Higher interest costs, a weakening rupee and the loss of a tax case in India's Supreme Court have combined to push Essar Energy into a pre-tax loss of more than $1.1bn. The London-listed oil and power group, majority-owned by founders Ravi Ruia and his brother Shashi Ruia of India's Essar conglomerate, said on Monday it had made a pre-tax loss of $1.15bn for the 15 months to March 31. Essar Energy, which changed its accounting period during the year, said this compared with a pre-tax profit of $365.5m in the 12 months to December 31 2010. Excluding the exceptional charges, underlying profit fell to $129m. The ruling in January left the group liable for $1.2bn in taxes and Essar Energy said it was in talks with banks to provide a bank loan to cover the liability. The swing into the red came in spite of Essar Energy's revenues more than doubling from $10bn in 2010 to $22bn for the 15-month period, mainly on the back of acquisitions. These included the purchase of the Stanlow oil refinery near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire from Shell last year for $350m. The group is coming to the end of a period of heavy capital expenditure, and in March completed the first phase of its Vadinar oil refinery expansion in the Indian state of Gujarat, boosting the plant's capacity to 405,000 barrels a day. Capital expenditure in 2013 is expected to reach $1.6bn, mainly for the Tori power projects in Jharkhand state, compared with $2.7bn in 2011 and 2012. Spending will fall to $250m by 2015. Prashant Ruia, chairman of Essar Energy and chief executive of India's Essar Group, said the group was no longer looking for significant acquisitions or expansion projects. Our focus is asset optimisation and reaping the growth in cash flows and profitability, and paying down debt. He said profit margins would improve as several power plants, which are more lucrative than the group's oil refining business, start production. Essar Energy is waiting for final approval from India's government to start mining coal close to its Mahan power plant in Madhya Pradesh state, which would bring down fuel costs and boost profits. "We expect [approval] fairly quickly," said Mr Ruia. Mr Ruia said that although investors have expressed concerns about a slowdown in India's growth rate, "it doesn't take away the fact that India has a huge deficit in power and needs new oil refinery capacity too." Essar Energy was spun off from the Essar Group in May 2010 and joined the London market at 420p a share, but the stock has since slumped following a string of bad news and a fall in the oil price. The shares dropped 10.6 per cent to 112.5p on Monday. "As earnings come through in the next two to three years there is significant scope for a correction in the share price," said Mr Ruia.