GraniteShares Gold Trust 10-K

Item 7. 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 to the financial statements included with this report. The discussion and analysis that follows may contain statements that relate to future events or future performance. In some cases, such forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. We remind readers that forward-looking statements are merely predictions and therefore inherently subject to uncertainties and other factors and involve known and unknown risks that could cause the actual results, performance, levels of activity, or our achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance, levels of activity, or our achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Trust undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Introduction. The GraniteShares Gold Trust (the “Trust”) is a trust formed under the laws of the State of New York. The Trust does not have any officers, directors, or employees, and is administered by The Bank of New York Mellon (the “Trustee”) acting as trustee pursuant to the Depositary Trust Agreement (the “Trust Agreement”) between the Trustee and GraniteShares LLC, the sponsor of the Trust (the “Sponsor”). The Trust issues Shares representing fractional undivided beneficial interests in its net assets. The assets of the Trust consist of gold bullion held by a custodian as an agent of the Trust and responsible only to the Trustee. The Trust is a passive investment vehicle and the objective of the Trust is for the value of each Share to approximately reflect, at any given time, the price of the gold bullion owned by the Trust, less the Trust’s liabilities (anticipated to be principally for accrued operating expenses), divided by the number of outstanding Shares. The Trust does not engage in any activities designed to obtain a profit from, or ameliorate losses caused by, changes in the price of gold. The Trust issues and redeems Shares only in exchange for gold, only in aggregations of 50,000 or integral multiples thereof (each, a “Basket”), and only in transactions with registered broker-dealers or other securities market participants not required to register as broker-dealers, such as a bank or other financial institution, that (1) are participants in DTC and (2) have previously entered into an agreement with the Trust governing the terms and conditions of such issuance (such dealers, the “Authorized Participants”). As of the date of this annual report the Authorized Participants that have signed an Authorized Participant Agreement with the J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp., and Virtu Financial BD, LLC. Shares of the Trust trade on the NYSE Arca under the symbol “BAR”. Investing in the Shares does not insulate the investor from certain risks, including price volatility. The following graph illustrates the movement in the net asset value (“NAV”) of the Shares against the corresponding gold price (per 1/100 of an oz. of gold) since inception: NAV per Share (1) vs. 1/100 th gold price from August 30, 2017 to June 30, 2023 30 (1) Adjusted for effect of stock split. The stock split was effective on March 7, 2019. See Note 1 to the Financial Statements. Source : Bloomberg The divergence of the NAV per Share from the gold price over time reflects the cumulative effect of the Trust expenses that arise if an investment had been held since inception. Critical Accounting Policy 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. Below we describe the valuation of gold bullion, a critical accounting policy that we believe is important to understanding our results of operations and financial position. In addition, please refer to Note 2 to the Financial Statements for further discussion of our accounting policies. Valuation of Gold Gold is held by the Custodian on behalf of the Trust. Gold is recorded at fair value. The cost of gold is determined according to the average cost method and the fair value is based on the LBMA PM Gold Price. Realized gains and losses on transfers of gold, or gold distributed for the redemption of Shares, are calculated on a trade date basis as the difference between the fair value and cost of gold transferred. June 30, 2023 (Amounts in 000’s of US$) Investment in gold - cost $ 787,089 Unrealized gain / (loss) on investment in gold 148,861 Investment in gold - fair value $ 935,950 31 Inspection of Gold Under the Custody Agreements, the Trustee, the Sponsor and the Sponsor’s auditors and inspectors may, only up to twice a year, visit the premises of the Custodian for the purpose of examining the Trust’s gold and certain related records maintained by the Custodian. The Sponsor has exercised its right to visit the Custodian in order to examine the gold and the records maintained by them. The most recent inspection by Bureau Veritas, a leading commodity inspection and testing company retained by the Sponsor, of the Custodian was conducted as of July 02, 2023. Liquidity The Trust is not aware of any trends, demands, conditions or events that are reasonably likely to result in material changes to its liquidity needs. In exchange for a fee (the “Sponsor’s Fee”), the Sponsor has agreed to assume most of the expenses incurred by the Trust. As a result, the only 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, 2023 the Trust did not have any cash balances. Review of Financial Results Financial Highlights June 30, 2023 (Amounts in 000’s of US$ except per share data) Total gain / (loss) on gold $ 41,285 Change in net assets from operations $ 39,683 Net increase (decrease) in net assets per share $ 0.78 Fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 The Trust’s NAV decreased from $996,127,089 on June 30, 2022, to $935,811,456 on June 30, 2023, a 6.06% decrease for the year. The decrease in the Trust’s NAV resulted primarily from a reduction in outstanding Shares from 55,300,000 Shares on June 30, 2022, to 49,450,000 Shares on June 30, 2023, a result of 4,100,000 Shares (82 Baskets) being created and 9,950,000 Shares (199 Baskets) being redeemed during that period. The NAV per Share increased 5.05% from $18.01 on June 30, 2022, to $18.92 on June 30, 2023. During that period the gold price increased 5.24% from $1,817.00 on June 30, 2022, to $1,912.25 on June 30, 2023. The Trust’s NAV per Share increased slightly less than the price per ounce of gold on a percentage basis due to the Sponsor’s Fee, which was $1,602,240 for the fiscal year, or 0.1749% of the Trust’s assets on an annualized basis. Fiscal year ended June 30, 2022 The Trust’s NAV decreased from $1,009,450,266 on June 30, 2021, to $996,127,089 on June 30, 2022, a 1.32% decrease for the year. The decrease in the Trust’s NAV resulted primarily from a reduction in outstanding Shares from 57,650,000 Shares on June 30, 2021, to 55,300,000 Shares on June 30, 2022, a result of 9,150,000 Shares (183 Baskets) being created and 11,500,000 Shares (230 Baskets) being redeemed during that period. The NAV per Share increased 2.86% from $17.51 on June 30, 2021, to $18.01 on June 30, 2022. During that period the gold price increased 3.05% from $1,763.15 on June 30, 2021, to $1,817.00 on June 30, 2022. The Trust’s NAV per Share increased slightly less than the price per ounce of gold on a percentage basis due to the Sponsor’s Fee, which was $1,726,901 for the fiscal year, or 0.1749% of the Trust’s assets on an annualized basis. 32 Fiscal year ended June 30, 2021 The Trust’s NAV decreased from $1,041,316,068 on June 30, 2020, to 1,009,450,266 on June 30, 2021, a 3.1% decrease for the year. The decrease in the Trust’s NAV resulted primarily from a reduction in outstanding Shares from 59,200,000 Shares on June 30, 2020, to 57,650,000 Shares on June 30, 2021, a result of 16,600,000 Shares (332 Baskets) being created and 18,150,000 Shares (363 Baskets) being redeemed during that period. The NAV per Share decreased 0.46% from $17.59 on June 30, 2020, to $17.51 on June 30, 2021. During that period the gold price decreased 0.28% from $1,768.10 on June 28, 2020, to $1,763.15 on June 28, 2021. The Trust’s NAV per Share decreased slightly more than the price per ounce of gold on a percentage basis due to the Sponsor’s Fee, which was $2,012,108 for the fiscal year, or 0.1749% of the Trust’s assets on an annualized basis. Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements The Trust is not a party to any off-balance sheet arrangements.