Russian businessman Gennady Timchenko sold his 50-percent voting stake in Gunvor to another co-founder and chief executive Torbjorn Tornqvist in March 2014, a day before the United States slapped sanctions on him and other allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin over the crisis in Ukraine.

Afterwards, Gunvor quickly resumed full operations and banking lines and expanded into new markets, including base metals trading, while cutting its exposure to Russia, which had long been responsible for a very large chunk of its business.

"Gunvor had a challenging year, but the company has emerged stronger - more efficient, more focused and even more transparent," said Jacques Erni, Gunvor's chief financial officer.

Gunvor never disclosed how much Timchenko was paid by Tornqvist, who now owns 100 percent voting stock in Gunvor.

Its results reported on Thursday showed Gunvor had a net asset value of $2.73 billion at the end of 2014, up 12 percent from $2.44 billion a year earlier, when Tornqvist owned only half the voting stock.

"The enterprise value of Gunvor is obviously higher," Erni told Reuters.

Tornqvist has said he would like to reduce his stake in Gunvor over time but has not decided yet whether he will sell the stock externally or to employees.

STRONG CASH POSITION

Gunvor said its cash position rose by 56 percent to $1.48 billion from a year earlier, which Erni said could be used for acquisitions at a time Gunvor is reducing its exposure to Russia and diversifying into other markets.

"2015 has started very well trading-wise, and we are also actively looking at new investments and new opportunities," Erni said. He said Gunvor had used cash to buy back as much as $150 million of its $500 million bond so far.

Gunvor sold its Russian coal assets this year and is looking to sell its prized oil loading terminals on the Russian Baltic and Black Sea. Erni said Gunvor hoped to close the deals this year.

He said Gunvor's financing lines increased by about $500 million in 2014 and today stood at over $20 billion.

Trading volumes rose to 137 million metric tonnes, up from 131 million in 2013, and included for the first time industrial metals trading activities. Revenue slipped 2.9 percent to $88 billion, reflecting lower commodity prices.

By comparison, Vitol, the world's largest trading house, saw revenue fall by a tenth last year to $270 billion.

Erni said oil and refined products still represented three quarters of 2014 revenue with gas, coal and base metals representing the rest.

Geographically, a third of its revenue came from Asia while Russia was responsible for 15-20 percent as opposed to more than a half several years ago.

Gunvor also reported a 20 percent rise in operating profit to $432 million, and a 5 percent increase in core earnings or EBITDA to $752 million.

Net profits fell 13 percent to $267 million after Gunvor wrote down its investment in small Swedish oil and gas explorer PA Resources (>> PA Resources AB), Erni said.

(Editing by Jason Neely)

By Dmitry Zhdannikov