Interim Management Report of Fund Performance (in U.S. dollars)
Management Discussion of Fund Performance
Investment Objective and Strategies
Sprott Physical Gold and Silver Trust (the “Trust”) is a closed-end mutual fund trust established on October 26, 2017 under the laws of the Province of Ontario, Canada. Sprott Asset Management LP (the “Manager”) is the manager of the Trust. The Trust was created to invest and hold substantially all of its assets in physical gold and silver bullion and seeks to provide a secure, convenient and exchange-traded investment alternative for investors interested in holding physical bullion without the inconvenience that is typical of a direct investment in physical bullion. The Trust intends to achieve its objective by investing primarily in long-term holdings of unencumbered, fully allocated, physical gold and silver bullion and does not speculate with regard to short-term changes in bullion prices.
The units of the Trust are listed on the New York Stock Exchange Arca (“NYSE Arca”) under the ticker symbol “CEF”, and the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”) under the ticker symbols “CEF” and “CEF.U”.
Risks
There have been no changes to the Trust over the financial period that materially affected the risk level of the Trust.
Results of Operations
For the three months ended March 31, 2024, the total change in unrealized gains on physical gold bullion amounted to $198.1 million and the total change in unrealized gains on physical silver bullion amounted to $55.3 million, compared to the total change in unrealized gains on physical gold bullion of $206.2 million and the total change in unrealized gains on physical silver bullion of $8.4 million during the same period in 2023. The realized gains on physical gold bullion amounted to $27.9 million and realized gains on physical silver bullion amounted to $9.1 million. Comparatively, for the same period in 2023, the realized gains on physical gold bullion amounted to $0.7 million and no realized gains on physical silver bullion.
During the three months ended March 31, 2024, the Trust issued no units through the at-the-market offering program (the “ATM Program”), and redeemed 5,673,898 units for $113.7 million of gold and silver bullion, and 64,666 units for $1.1 million of cash. Comparatively, for the same period in 2023, the Trust issued no units and redeemed 1,771 units for a nominal amount of cash.
The value of the net assets1 of the Trust as at March 31, 2024 was $4,400.8 million or $21.43 per unit, compared to $4,230.1 million or $20.04 per unit as at December 31, 2023. The Trust held 1,348,194 ounces of physical gold bullion and 55,639,489 ounces of physical silver bullion as at March 31, 2024, compared to 1,389,335 ounces of physical gold bullion and 57,105,971 ounces of physical silver bullion as at December 31, 2023. As at March 31, 2024, the spot price of physical gold bullion was $2,229.87 per ounce and the spot price of physical silver bullion was $24.96 per ounce, compared to a spot price for physical gold bullion of $2,062.98 per ounce and a spot price for physical silver bullion of $23.80 per ounce as at December 31, 2023.
The Trust returned 6.9% compared to the return on spot gold and silver of 8.1% and 4.9% respectively for the three months ended March 31, 2024. Comparatively, for the same period in 2023, the Trust returned 5.3% compared to the return on spot gold and silver of 8.0% and 0.6% respectively.