Exxon’s Profits Decline 10.2%

Exxon Corp., the world’s largest oil company, said today that its profits fell 10.2% in the first quarter of 1985 from a year earlier. It blamed sluggish markets for oil products, a slowing economy and a strong dollar.

Exxon said earnings in the first quarter fell to $1.325 billion, or $1.71 a share, from $1.475 billion, or $1.75 a share, a year earlier. Earnings per share did not fall as much as net profit because a stock repurchase program substantially reduced the number of shares outstanding.