abrdn Gold ETF Trust Files 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K

TL;DR

<b>abrdn Gold ETF Trust has submitted its 2023 annual report, detailing its operations and compliance with SEC filing requirements.</b>

AI Summary

abrdn Gold ETF Trust (SGOL) filed a Annual Report (10-K) with the SEC on February 29, 2024. abrdn Gold ETF Trust filed its annual report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. The ETF's shares are registered under the trading symbol SGOL on the NYSE Arca. The Trust was formerly known as Aberdeen Standard Gold ETF Trust and ETFS Gold Trust. The filing confirms the registrant has filed all required reports for the preceding 12 months and is subject to filing requirements for the past 90 days. The report is filed pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Why It Matters

For investors and stakeholders tracking abrdn Gold ETF Trust, this filing contains several important signals. This 10-K filing provides investors with a comprehensive overview of the abrdn Gold ETF Trust's financial performance and operational status for the fiscal year 2023. As a publicly traded ETF, adherence to these reporting standards ensures transparency and regulatory compliance, crucial for investor confidence in gold-backed investment vehicles.

Risk Assessment

Risk Level: low — abrdn Gold ETF Trust shows low risk based on this filing. The filing is a routine annual report (10-K) for a well-established ETF, indicating standard operational procedures and no immediate red flags.

Analyst Insight

Review the full 10-K filing for detailed financial statements, risk factors, and management discussion to assess the ETF's performance and outlook.

Key Numbers

• 2023-12-31 — Fiscal Year End (Report period)
• 2024-02-29 — Filing Date (Date the report was filed)
• 001-34441 — Commission File Number (SEC file number for the registrant)
• 26-4587209 — IRS Employer Identification No. (Registrant's IRS number)

Key Players & Entities

• abrdn Gold ETF Trust (company) — Registrant name
• SGOL (company) — Trading Symbol
• NYSE Arca (company) — Exchange where SGOL is registered
• Aberdeen Standard Gold ETF Trust (company) — Former company name
• ETFS Gold Trust (company) — Former company name
• Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (regulator) — Act under which the report is filed
• Philadelphia (company) — City of principal executive offices
• DE (company) — State of incorporation

FAQ

Key Dates

• 2023-12-31: Fiscal Year End — End of the reporting period for the 10-K filing.
• 2024-02-29: Filing Date — Date the 10-K report was officially submitted to the SEC.

Glossary

10-K

An annual report required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which gives a comprehensive summary of a company's financial performance. (This filing provides the official annual overview of abrdn Gold ETF Trust's status.)

ETF

Exchange-Traded Fund, a type of security that involves a collection of securities—such as stocks—that often tracks a benchmark index. (abrdn Gold ETF Trust is an ETF focused on gold.)

NYSE Arca

A U.S. stock exchange operated by NYSE Group, Inc. It is a major venue for trading ETFs. (This is the exchange where the SGOL ETF is listed and traded.)

Key Financial Figures

• $2,442,782,637 — ares at redeemable value increased from $2,442,782,637 at December 31, 2022 to $2,826,258,485
• $2,826,258,485 — $2,442,782,637 at December 31, 2022 to $2,826,258,485 at December 31, 2023, the Trust's fisca
• $1,943.20 — l failures. The price of gold peaked at $1,943.20 per ounce in January 2021 as the uncert
• $2,039.05 — or gold as the price climbed as high as $2,039.05 per ounce in the weeks following Russia
• $1,628.75 — as the price of gold dropped as low as $1,628.75 per ounce on November 3, 2022. However,
• $1,813.75 — lly that saw the price of gold climb to $1,813.75 per ounce to close 2022. Similarly in
• $1,932.45 — ields caused the price of gold to reach $1,932.45 per ounce on January 26, 2023. However,
• $1,810.95 — omic recovery drove the price as low as $1,810.95 per ounce on February 24, 2023, before
• $2,048.45 — uts and drove the spot price as high as $2,048.45 per ounce on April 13, 2023 as investor
• $1,899.60 — to the price of gold falling as low as $1,899.60 per ounce on June 29th, 2023. The price
• $1,976.10 — chasing drove the spot price back up to $1,976.10 per ounce on July 20, 2023, however the
• $1,870.50 — ws leading the price to close as low as $1,870.50 per ounce on September 29, 2023. The sp
• $1,818.95 — the fourth quarter, reaching as low as $1,818.95 per ounce on October 4, 2023, before th
• $1,997.60 — e spot price of gold climbed as high as $1,997.60 per ounce on October 30, 2023. The spot
• $2,078.40 — ot price of gold to an all-time high of $2,078.40 per ounce on December 28, 2023. Operat

Filing Documents

• sgol-10k_123123.htm (10-K) — 803KB
• ex23-1.htm (EX-23.1) — 4KB
• ex31-1.htm (EX-31.1) — 13KB
• ex31-2.htm (EX-31.2) — 13KB
• ex32-1.htm (EX-32.1) — 7KB
• ex32-2.htm (EX-32.2) — 7KB
• ex97-1.htm (EX-97.1) — 47KB
• sgol10k001.jpg (GRAPHIC) — 56KB
• sgol10k002.jpg (GRAPHIC) — 35KB
• 0001999371-24-002921.txt (&nbsp;) — 2656KB
• sgol-20231231.xsd (EX-101.SCH) — 18KB
• sgol-20231231_cal.xml (EX-101.CAL) — 13KB
• sgol-20231231_def.xml (EX-101.DEF) — 26KB
• sgol-20231231_lab.xml (EX-101.LAB) — 162KB
• sgol-20231231_pre.xml (EX-101.PRE) — 119KB
• sgol-10k_123123_htm.xml (XML) — 177KB

Business

Item 1. Business 2 Trust Objective 2 Overview of the Gold Industry 3 Operation of the Gold Bullion Market 5 Secondary Market Trading 9 Valuation of Gold and Computation of Net Asset Value 9 Trust Expenses 10 Creation and Redemption of Shares 11 Creation and Redemption Transaction Fee 16 The Sponsor 16 The Trustee 17 The Custodian 18 Inspection of Gold 18 Description of the Shares 19 Custody of the Trust's Gold 20 United States Federal Income Tax Consequences 20 ERISA and Related Considerations 24

Risk Factors

Item 1A. Risk Factors 25

Unresolved Staff Comments

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 35

Cybersecurity

Item 1C. Cybersecurity 35

Properties

Item 2. Properties 36

Legal Proceedings

Item 3. Legal Proceedings 36

Mine Safety Disclosure

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosure 36 PART II

Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities 36

Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations 38

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk 42

Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 43

Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure 44

Controls and Procedures

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 44

Other Information

Item 9B. Other Information 46 PART III 47

Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 47

Executive Compensation

Item 11. Executive Compensation 47

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters 48

Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence 48

Principal Accounting Fees and Services

Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services 49 PART IV 50

Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedule

Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedule 50

Form 10K Summary

Item 16. Form 10K Summary 51 PART I Item 1. Business The purpose of the abrdn Gold ETF Trust (the "Trust") is to own gold transferred to the Trust in exchange for shares issued by the Trust ("Shares"). Each Share represents a fractional undivided beneficial interest in and ownership of the Trust. The assets of the Trust consist solely of gold bullion. The Trust was formed on September 1, 2009 when an initial deposit of gold was made in exchange for the issuance of two Baskets (a "Basket" consists of 100,000 Shares). The sponsor of the Trust is abrdn ETFs Sponsor LLC (the "Sponsor"). The trustee of the Trust is The Bank of New York Mellon (the "Trustee") and the custodian is JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., London Branch (the "Custodian"). The Trust's Shares at redeemable value increased from $2,442,782,637 at December 31, 2022 to $2,826,258,485 at December 31, 2023, the Trust's fiscal year end. Outstanding Shares in the Trust increased from 140,600,000 Shares at December 31, 2022 to 142,200,000 Shares at December 31, 2023. The Trust is not managed like a corporation or an active investment vehicle. The Trust has no directors, officers or employees. It does not engage in any activities designed to obtain a profit from or to improve the losses caused by changes in the price of gold. The gold held by the Trust will only be delivered to pay the remuneration due to the Sponsor (the "Sponsor's Fee"), distributed to Authorized Participants (defined below) in connection with the redemption of Baskets or sold (1) on an as-needed basis to pay Trust expenses not assumed by the Sponsor, (2) in the event the Trust terminates and liquidates its assets, or (3) as otherwise required by law or regulation. The Trust is not registered as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and is not required to register under such act. The Trust does not and will not hold or trade in commodities futures contracts, "commodity interests" or any other instruments regul

View Full Filing

View this 10-K filing on SEC EDGAR