Gunvor builds up underlying profits after shedding terminals and metals unit

Energy trader Gunvor Group reported a net profit of $315m for 2016, with underlying profits rising after the company successfully replaced volumes following the sale of two large oil terminals and shuttering its metals business.

The Swiss headquartered group, run by Swede Torbjörn Törnqvist, said it grew oil, natural gas and coal volumes to 187m metric tonnes in 2016 from 180m metric tonnes the prior year, despite the sale of the Ust-Luga and Novorossiysk oil terminals in Russia, which once made up a large proportion of its business.

Net profit was down 75 per cent from the prior year’s $1.25bn that included the proceeds from the terminal sales. That money was largely used by Mr Törnqvist to sever the final ties to oligarch Gennady Timchenko with whom he confounded the company.

“The figure represents an increase in underlying profit year-over-year,” Gunvor said in a statement.

The company expanded in 2016 partly through opening offices in Texas and Connecticut and starting up an oil terminal in Indonesia.

“Gunvor’s sound management and clear strategy has enabled the company’s continued growth and uninterrupted run of profitable operations,” said Gunvor Group CFO Jacques Erni. “We are now reaching into new geographies with new investments and trading, backed by a strong liquidity position.”

Revenue, which is heavily influenced for commodity traders by moves in energy prices, fell to $47bn in 2016 from $64bn the prior year due to weak prices.