abrdn Gold ETF Trust: Form 10-Q for the period ended Jun 30, 2025

This information should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes to the financial statements included in Item 1 of Part 1 of this Form 10-Q. The discussion and analysis that follows may contain 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 within the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These forward-looking statements may relate to the Trust’s financial condition, operations, future performance and business. These statements can be identified by the use of the words “may”, “should”, “expect”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “predict”, “potential” or similar words and phrases. These statements are based upon certain assumptions and analyses the Sponsor has made based on its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments. Neither the Trust nor the Sponsor is under a duty to update any of the forward-looking statements, to conform such statements to actual results or to reflect a change in management’s expectations or predictions.

Introduction

The Trust is a common law trust, formed under the laws of the state of New York on September 1, 2009. The Trust is not managed like a corporation or an active investment vehicle. It does not have any officers, directors, or employees and is administered by the Trustee pursuant to the Trust Agreement. 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. It does not hold or trade in commodity futures contracts, nor is it a commodity pool, or subject to regulation as a commodity pool operator or a commodity trading adviser in connection with issuing Shares.

The Trust holds gold and is expected to issue Baskets in exchange for deposits of gold and to distribute gold in connection with redemptions of Baskets. Shares issued by the Trust represent units of undivided beneficial interest in and ownership of the Trust. The investment objective of the Trust is for the Shares to reflect the performance of the price of gold bullion, less the Trust’s expenses. The Sponsor believes that, for many investors, the Shares will represent a cost effective investment relative to traditional means of investing in gold.

The Trust issues and redeems Shares only with Authorized Participants in exchange for gold and only in aggregations of 100,000 Shares or integral multiples thereof. A list of current Authorized Participants is available from the Sponsor or the Trustee.

Shares of the Trust trade on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) Arca under the symbol “SGOL”.

Valuation of Gold and Computation of Net Asset Value

On each day that the NYSE Arca is open for regular trading, as promptly as practicable after 4:00 p.m. New York time on such day (the “Evaluation Time”), the Trustee evaluates the gold held by the Trust and determines the NAV of the Trust.

At the Evaluation Time, the Trustee values the Trust’s gold on the basis of that day’s LBMA Gold Price PM the USD price of a troy ounce of gold as determined by ICE Benchmark Administration, the third party administrator of the London gold price selected by the LBMA, or any successor administrator of the London gold price, at or about 3:00 p.m. London time, on each London business day and disseminated electronically by IBA to selected major market data vendors, such as Refinitiv and Bloomberg). If no LBMA Gold Price PM is made on such day or has not been announced by the Evaluation Time, such day’s LBMA Gold Price AM (the price of a troy ounce of gold as determined by ICE Benchmark Administration, the third party administrator of the London gold price selected by the LBMA, or any successor administrator of the London gold price, at or about 10:30 a.m. London time on each London business day and disseminated electronically by IBA to selected major market data vendors, such as Refinitiv and Bloomberg). will be used, unless the Sponsor determines that such price is inappropriate as a basis for evaluation. In the event the Sponsor determines that the LBMA Gold Price PM, the LBMA Gold Price AM or such other publicly available price as the Sponsor may deem fairly represents the commercial value of the Trust’s gold is not an appropriate basis for evaluation of the Trust’s gold, it shall identify an alternative basis for such evaluation to be employed by the Trustee. Neither the Trustee nor the Sponsor shall be liable to any person for the determination that the LBMA Gold Price PM, the LBMA Gold Price AM or such other publicly available price is not appropriate as a basis for evaluation of the Trust’s gold or for any determination as to the alternative basis for such evaluation provided that such determination is made in good faith.

Once the value of the gold has been determined, the Trustee subtracts all estimated accrued but unpaid fees (other than the fees accruing for such day on which the valuation takes place that are computed by reference to the value of the Trust or its assets), expenses and other liabilities of the Trust from the total value of the gold and all other assets of the Trust (other than any amounts credited to the Trust’s reserve account, if established). The resulting figure is the adjusted net asset value (the “ANAV”) of the Trust. The ANAV of the Trust is used to compute the Sponsor’s Fee.

All fees accruing for the day on which the valuation takes place that are computed by reference to the value of the Trust or its assets are calculated using the ANAV calculated for such day. The Trustee subtracts from the ANAV the amount of accrued fees so computed for such day and the resulting figure is the NAV of the Trust. The Trustee also determines the NAV per Share by dividing the NAV of the Trust by the number of the Shares outstanding as of the close of trading on the NYSE Arca (which includes the net number of any Shares created or redeemed on such evaluation day).

Any estimate of the accrued but unpaid fees, expenses and liabilities of the Trust for purposes of computing the NAV of the Trust and ANAV made by the Trustee in good faith shall be conclusive upon all persons interested in the Trust and no revision or correction in any computation made under the Trust Agreement will be required by reason of any difference in amounts estimated from those actually paid.

The NAV of the Trust is obtained by subtracting the Trust’s liabilities on any day from the value of the gold owned and receivable by the Trust on that day; the NAV per Share is obtained by dividing the NAV of the Trust on a given day by the number of Shares outstanding on that day.

The Quarter Ended June 30, 2025

The Trust’s NAV increased from $4,806,666,963 at March 31, 2025 to $5,167,662,679 at June 30, 2025, a 7.51% increase for the quarter. The change in the Trust’s NAV resulted from an increase in the price per ounce of gold, which rose 5.53% from $3,115.10 at March 31, 2025 to $3,287.45 at June 30, 2025, and an increase in outstanding Shares, which rose from 161,700,000 at March 31, 2025 to 164,800,000 at June 30, 2025 as a result of 9,100,000 Shares (91 Baskets) being created and 6,000,000 Shares (60 Baskets) being redeemed during the quarter.

The NAV per Share increased 5.48% from $29.73 at March 31, 2025 to $31.36 at June 30, 2025. The Trust’s NAV per Share rose slightly less than the price per ounce of gold on a percentage basis due to the Sponsor’s Fee, which was $2,114,816 for the quarter, or 0.17% of the Trust’s ANAV on an annualized basis.

The NAV per Share of $32.77 at June 13, 2025 was the highest during the quarter, compared with a low of $28.77 at April 8, 2025.

The increase in net assets from operations for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 was $255,325,845 resulting from a realized gain of $858,658 on the transfer of gold to pay expenses, a realized gain of $75,536,582 on gold distributed for the redemption of Shares, and a change in unrealized gain on investment in gold of $181,045,421, offset by the Sponsor’s Fee of $2,114,816. Other than the Sponsor’s Fee, the Trust had no expenses during the quarter ended June 30, 2025.

The Six Months Ended June 30, 2025

The Trust’s NAV increased from $3,756,119,448 at December 31, 2024 to $5,167,662,679 at June 30, 2025, a 37.58% increase for the period. The change in the Trust’s NAV resulted from an increase in the price per ounce of gold, which rose 25.91% from $2,610.85 at December 31, 2024 to $3,287.45 at June 30, 2025, and an increase in outstanding Shares, which rose from 150,700,000 at December 31, 2024 to 164,800,000 at June 30, 2025 as a result of 22,900,000 Shares (229 Baskets) being created and 8,800,000 Shares (88 Baskets) being redeemed during the period.

The NAV per Share increased 25.84% from $24.92 at December 31, 2024 to $31.36 at June 30, 2025. The Trust’s NAV per Share rose slightly less than the price per ounce of gold on a percentage basis due to the Sponsor’s Fee, which was $3,895,330 for the period, or 0.17% of the Trust’s ANAV on an annualized basis.

The NAV per Share of $32.77 at June 13, 2025 was the highest during the period, compared with a low of $24.92 at January 1, 2025.

The increase in net assets from operations for the period ended June 30, 2025 was $993,112,846, resulting from a realized gain of $1,464,431 on the transfer of gold to pay expenses, a realized gain of $104,437,952 on gold distributed for the redemption of Shares and a change in unrealized gain on investment in gold of $891,105,793, offset by the Sponsor’s Fee of $3,895,330. Other than the Sponsor’s Fee, the Trust had no expenses during the period ended June 30, 2025.

Liquidity & Capital Resources

The Trust is not aware of any trends, demands, commitments, events or uncertainties that are reasonably likely to result in material changes to its liquidity needs. In exchange for the Sponsor’s Fee, the Sponsor has agreed to assume most of the expenses incurred by the Trust. As a result, the only ordinary expense of the Trust during the period covered by this report was the Sponsor’s Fee. The Trust’s only source of liquidity is its transfers and sales of gold.

The Trustee will, at the direction of the Sponsor or in its own discretion, sell the Trust’s gold as necessary to pay the Trust’s expenses not otherwise assumed by the Sponsor. The Trustee will not sell gold to pay the Sponsor’s Fee but will pay the Sponsor’s Fee through in-kind transfers of gold to the Sponsor. At June 30, 2025, the Trust did not have any cash balances.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

The Trust is not a party to any off-balance sheet arrangements.

Critical Accounting Policies

The financial statements and accompanying notes are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. The preparation of these financial statements relies on estimates and assumptions that impact the Trust’s financial position and results of operations. These estimates and assumptions affect the Trust’s application of accounting policies. Refer to Note 2 to the Financial Statements for further information on accounting policies.

The Trust Agreement does not authorize the Trustee to borrow for payment of the Trust’s ordinary expenses. The Trust does not engage in transactions in foreign currencies which could expose the Trust or holders of Shares to any foreign currency related market risk. The Trust invests in no derivative financial instruments and has no foreign operations or long-term debt instruments.

The Trust maintains disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in its Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the Sponsor, and to the audit committee, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Under the supervision and with the participation of the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer of the Sponsor, the Sponsor conducted an evaluation of the Trust’s disclosure controls and procedures, as defined under Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e). Based on this evaluation, the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer of the Sponsor concluded that, as of June 30, 2025, the Trust’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective.

Internal controls over financial reporting have been maintained throughout the Trust’s quarter ended June 30, 2025. There have been no changes that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the Trust’s or Sponsor’s internal control over financial reporting.

There have been no material changes to the risk factors previously disclosed in the Trust’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024.