World Gold Trust: Form 10-Q for the period ended Mar 31, 2025

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,” “would,” “may,” “expect,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “seek,” “estimate,” and “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 we believe 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, 2024, as updated from time to time in World Gold Trust’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Trust Overview

The World Gold Trust (the “Trust”) was formed as a Delaware statutory trust on August 27, 2014. The Trust consists of multiple series (each, a “Fund” and collectively, the “Funds”). Each Fund issues common units of beneficial interest that represent units of fractional undivided beneficial interest in and ownership of such Fund. The term of the Trust and each Fund is perpetual (unless terminated earlier in certain circumstances). The Trust was organized in separate series as a Delaware statutory trust rather than as separate statutory trusts to achieve certain administrative and other efficiencies. The Trust is sponsored by WGC USA Asset Management Company, LLC (the “Sponsor”).

The Trust established six separate series, of which only SPDR® Gold MiniShares® Trust (“GLDM”) is operational as of March 31, 2025. GLDM commenced operations on June 26, 2018. GLDM’s investment objective is for its shares (the “Shares”) to reflect the performance of the price of gold, less its expenses.

Gold is held by ICBC Standard Bank Plc ("ICBC") and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. ("JPMorgan" and each of ICBC and JPMorgan, a "Custodian" and together, the “Custodians”) on behalf of GLDM.

As of the date of this quarterly report, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, BofA Securities Inc., Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, UBS Securities LLC, HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., and Virtu Americas LLC are the only Authorized Participants. An updated list of Authorized Participants can be obtained from the Sponsor.

Investing in the Shares does not insulate the investor from risks, including price volatility. The following chart illustrates the movement in the market price of the Shares and NAV of the Shares against the corresponding gold price (per 1/100 of an oz. of gold) since the day the Shares first began trading on the NYSE Arca:

Share price & NAV v. gold price - June 26, 2018 to March 31, 2025

Critical Accounting Policy

Valuation of Gold, Definition of NAV

GLDM values the investment in gold bullion at fair value. The Bank of New York Mellon (the “Administrator”) will value any gold bullion held by GLDM on the basis of the price of an ounce of gold as determined by the ICE Benchmark Administration Limited (the “IBA”). In determining the NAV, the Administrator will value the gold bullion held by GLDM on the basis of the price of an ounce of gold determined by the IBA 3:00 PM auction process (the “LBMA Gold Price PM”). The Administrator will calculate the NAV on each day the NYSE Arca is open for regular trading, at the earlier of the announcement of the LBMA Gold Price PM for the day or 12:00 PM New York time. If no LBMA Gold Price (AM or PM) is made on a particular evaluation day or if the LBMA Gold Price PM has not been announced by 12:00 PM New York time on a particular evaluation day, the next most recent LBMA Gold Price AM or PM will be used in the determination of the NAV, unless the Sponsor determines that such price is inappropriate to use as the basis for such determination. Gold held by GLDM is reported at fair value on the Statement of Financial Condition.

Once the value of the gold has been determined, the Administrator subtracts all estimated accrued fees, expenses and other liabilities of GLDM from the total value of the gold and all other assets of GLDM. The resulting figure is the NAV. The NAV is used to compute the Sponsor’s fee. The Administrator determines the NAV per Share by dividing the NAV of GLDM by the number of Shares outstanding as of the close of trading on NYSE Arca.

Bureau Veritas Commodities UK Ltd. (formerly Inspectorate International Limited) ("Bureau Veritas") conducts two counts each year of the gold bullion held on behalf of GLDM at the vaults of the Custodians. A complete bar count is conducted once per year and coincides with the Trust’s financial year end at September 30th. On September 30, 2024, Bureau Veritas concluded the annual full count of the Trust’s gold bullion held by JPMorgan at its London vault. The second count is a random sample count and is conducted at a date which falls within the same financial year and was conducted most recently at JPMorgan's London vault on March 14, 2025. During the period in which the second count took place, ICBC did not hold any gold on behalf of GLDM and JPMorgan did not hold any gold on behalf of GLDM at its New York or Zurich vaults and, as a result, counts were not conducted at those vault locations. The results can be found on www.spdrgoldshares.com (http://www.spdrgoldshares.com). The Sponsor generally visits the vaults of the Custodians twice a year as part of its due diligence procedures.

Results of Operations

In the three months ended March 31, 2025, 38,500,000 Shares (385 Creation Units) were created in exchange for 762,688.1 ounces of gold, 2,100,000 Shares (21 Creation Units) were redeemed in exchange for 41,604.2 ounces of gold and 841.1 ounces of gold were sold to pay Sponsor fees. For accounting purposes, GLDM reflects creations and redemptions on the date of receipt of a notification of a creation but does not issue Shares until the requisite amount of gold is received. Upon a redemption, GLDM delivers gold upon receipt of Shares. These creations and redemptions were completed in the normal course of business.

At March 31, 2025, the amount of gold owned by GLDM and held by the Custodians was 4,246,315.3 ounces, 100% of which is allocated gold in the form of London Good Delivery gold bars with a market value of $13,227,696,754 based on the LBMA Gold Price PM on March 31, 2025 (cost —$9,163,702,981).

At September 30, 2024, the amount of gold owned by GLDM and held by the Custodians was 3,483,344.7 ounces, 100% of which is allocated gold in the form of London Good Delivery gold bars with a market value of $9,161,022,521.0 based on the LBMA Gold Price PM on September 30, 2024 (cost — $6,671,767,835).

Cash Resources and Liquidity

At March 31, 2025, GLDM did not have any cash balances. When selling gold to pay expenses, GLDM endeavors to sell the exact amount of gold needed to pay expenses in order to minimize GLDM’s holdings of assets other than gold or any gold receivable. As a consequence, we expect that GLDM will not record any net cash flow from its operations and that its cash balance will be zero at the end of each reporting period.

Movements in the Price of Gold

As movements in the price of gold are expected to directly affect the price of the Shares, it is important to understand the recent movements in the price of gold. However, past movements in the price of gold are not indicators of future movements.

The following chart shows movements in the price of gold based on the LBMA Gold Price PM in U.S. dollars per ounce over the period from June 26, 2018 (the first date the Shares began trading on the NYSE Arca) to March 31, 2025.

Daily Gold Price - June 26, 2018 to March 31, 2025

LBMA Gold Price PM USD

The average, high, low and end-of-period gold prices for the three and twelve-month periods over the prior three years and for the period from June 26, 2018 (the first date the Shares began trading on the NYSE Arca) through March 31, 2025, based on the LBMA Gold Price PM, were:

(1) The end of period gold price is the LBMA Gold Price PM on the last business day of the period.

(2) There was no LBMA Gold Price PM on the last business day of December 2024, 2023 or 2022. The LBMA Gold Price AM on the last business day of December 2024, 2023 and 2022 was $2,610.85, $2,062.40 and $1,812.35, respectively. The Net Asset Value of GLDM on December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022 was calculated using the LBMA Gold Price AM.

GLDM is a passive investment vehicle. Fluctuations in the value of gold bullion will affect the value of Shares which are designed to reflect the performance of the price of gold bullion, less GLDM’s expenses.

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

The duly authorized officers of the Sponsor, performing functions equivalent to those a principal executive officer and principal financial officer of the Trust would perform if the Trust had any officers, have evaluated the effectiveness of the Trust’s disclosure controls and procedures, and have concluded that the disclosure controls and procedures of the Trust were effective as of the end of the period covered by this report. Such disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in the reports that the Trust files or submits under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), are recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time period specified in the applicable rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to the duly authorized officers of the Sponsor performing functions equivalent to those a principal executive officer and principal financial officer of the Trust would perform if the Trust had any officers, and to the Audit Committee of the Sponsor, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

The duly authorized officers of the Sponsor, performing functions equivalent to those a principal executive officer and principal financial officer of the Trust would perform if the Trust had any officers, have evaluated the effectiveness of GLDM’s disclosure controls and procedures, and have concluded that the disclosure controls and procedures of GLDM were effective as of the end of the period covered by this report. Such disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in the reports that the Trust files or submits under the Exchange Act on behalf of GLDM are recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time period specified in the applicable rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to the duly authorized officers of the Sponsor performing functions equivalent to those a principal executive officer and principal financial officer of the Trust would perform if the Trust had any officers, and to the Audit Committee of the Sponsor, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There has been no change in the internal control over financial reporting of the Trust that occurred during the most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Trust’s internal control over financial reporting.

There has been no change in the internal control over financial reporting of GLDM that occurred during the most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, GLDM’s internal control over financial reporting.

You should carefully consider the factors discussed in Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2024, which could materially affect our business, financial condition or future results. There have been no material changes in our risk factors from those disclosed in our 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The risks described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K are not the only risks facing the Trust. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial also may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and/or operating results.