Item 2. | Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
This information should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes included in Item 1 of Part I of this Quarterly Report. This Quarterly Report, including the exhibits hereto and the information incorporated by reference herein, contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Except for historical information, statements about future gold prices, gold bullion sales, foreign currencies (including the Reference Currencies), foreign currency exchange rates, costs, plans, or objectives are forward-looking statements based on our estimates, beliefs, assumptions and projections. Words such as “could,” “may,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “target,” “goals,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “seek,” “outlook,” “estimate,” “predict,” and variations on such words, and similar expressions that reflect our current views with respect to future events and Fund performance, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are only predictions, subject to risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control, and actual results could differ materially from those discussed. Important factors that could affect performance and cause results to differ materially from our expectations are described in the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2017, as updated from time to time in the Fund’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Organization and Trust Overview
World Gold Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on August 27, 2014 and is governed by the Fourth Amended and Restated Agreement and Declaration of Trust (“Declaration of Trust”) dated as of April 16, 2018, between WGC USA Asset Management Company, LLC (the “Sponsor”) and the Delaware Trust Company (the “Trustee”). The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of beneficial interest (“Shares”). The beneficial interest in the Trust may be divided into one or more series. The Trust has established six separate series. The accompanying unaudited financial statements relate to the Trust and SPDR® Long Dollar Gold Trust (the “Fund”), currently the only operational series of the Trust, which commenced operations in the first calendar quarter of 2017. On November 30, 2017, the Sponsor filed a Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission for The Gold Trust, a series of the Trust. The fiscal year end of both the Trust and the Fund is September 30. The Fund issues shares of beneficial interest (“Shares”), which represent units of fractional undivided beneficial interest in and ownership of only that Fund. The Trust has had no operations prior to January 27, 2017, other than matters relating to its organization, the registration of the Fund’s shares under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the sale and issuance by the Fund on December 19, 2016 to WGC (US) Holdings, Inc., an affiliate of the Sponsor, of 10 Shares of the Fund at an aggregate purchase price of $1,000. The Fund’s Shares began trading on the NYSE Arca on January 30, 2017. As of May 3, 2018, the Fund has 140,000 shares which are currently outstanding.
As of the date of this quarterly report, Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp., Morgan Stanley & Co., LLC, UBS Securities LLC and Virtu Financial BD LLC are the Authorized Participants. An updated list of Authorized Participants can be obtained from the Administrator or the Sponsor.
The investment objective of the Fund is to track the performance of the Solactive GLD® Long USD Gold Index (the “Index”), less Fund expenses. The Index seeks to track the daily performance of a long position in physical gold, as represented by the LBMA Gold Price AM, and a short position in a basket of non-U.S. currencies (i.e., a long U.S. dollar (“USD”) exposure versus the basket (“FX Basket”)). Those non-U.S. currencies, which are weighted according to the Index, consist of the following: Euro, Japanese Yen, British Pound Sterling, Canadian Dollar, Swedish Krona and Swiss Franc (each, a “Reference Currency”).
In general, the USD value of an investment in Shares of the Fund is expected to increase when both the price of gold goes up and the value of the USD increases against the value of the Reference Currencies comprising the
21