Esso Ireland has paid a €47 million dividend to its US parent, the oil giant Exxon Mobil.
The dividend was paid out last year as Esso Ireland went into the red, with operating losses of €1.44 million amid stiff competition in the fuel business.
The company turned an operating profit of €14.11 million in 2003.
"There are plans in progress to maintain competitiveness and to improve the group's productivity and trading position," said the director's report with newly-filed accounts.
The deteriorating financial performance was recorded in spite of the increase in oil prices, which helped bring turnover to €473.8 million from €430.3 million a year earlier.
The turnover figures exclude excise duty and VAT of €437.74 million in 2004 and €416.4 million in 2003.
The accounts for Esso Ireland Ltd indicate that some €1.25 million of the operating losses were attributed to a lubricant business which had sales of €13.5 million and was transferred during 2004 to a Belgian subsidiary of Exxon.
The remaining €460.3 million in sales derived from Esso's service station and fuel supply business, which had an operating loss of €182,000.
The company has 250 service stations in its network. About 70 of these are company-owned. The remaining 180 are run by independent dealers.
Esso Ireland has a programme of converting dealer-run retail outlets into staff-operated sites, which brought its staff to 276 last year from 74 in 2003.
Last May, it acquired three Maxol stations - at Dublin Airport, the Hill in Palmerstown, west Dublin, and North Road in Drogheda, Co Louth.
While Esso Ireland distributes aviation, marine and industrial fuel, the accounts for the company do not provide a break-down of its revenues from individual sectors.
According to a spokesman for Esso, the company said that the €47 million dividend had "nothing at all" to do with a once-off US government incentive for US groups to repatriate profits at greatly reduced taxation for a period of one year.
Payment of the dividend left Esso with retained earnings of €88.85 million from its Irish unit. There was no dividend in the previous year.
The company paid Irish corporation taxes of €1.33 million last year, down from €2.78 million in 2003.
