ITEM 1. DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS
Overview
A-Mark, also referred to (together with its subsidiaries) as "we", "us" and the "Company", is a full-service precious metals trading company. It is a wholesaler of gold, silver, platinum and palladium bullion and related products, including bars, wafers, grain and coins. A-Mark also-
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distributes gold and silver coins and bars from sovereign and private mints;
provides financing for the purchase of bullion and numismatics;
offers secure storage for bullion; and
offers complementary products such as consignment, customized finance and liquidity programs such as Repo accounts, and trade quotes in a variety of foreign currencies.
A-Mark believes it has one of the largest customer bases in each of its markets and provides one of the most comprehensive offerings of products and services in the precious metals trading industry. Our customers include mints, manufacturers and fabricators, refiners, coin and bullion dealers, e-commerce retailers, banks and other financial institutions, commodity brokerage houses, industrial users of precious metals, investors and collectors. We serve customers on six continents, with over 10% of our customers being outside the United States.
A-Mark believes its businesses largely function independently of the price movement of the underlying commodities. However, factors such as global economic activity or uncertainty and inflationary trends, which affect market volatility, have the potential to impact customer demand, volumes and margins.
We conduct our operations within one business segment.
History/Spinoff from SGI
A-Mark was founded in 1965 as a small numismatics firm, which subsequently grew to include wholesale bullion trading and precious metals financing. Spectrum Group International, Inc. (SGI), then known as Greg Manning Auctions, Inc., acquired an 80% interest in A-Mark in 2005. The remaining 20% of A-Mark was acquired by Afinsa Bienes Tangibles, S.A. (Afinsa), at the time SGI's controlling shareholder. In 2012, SGI acquired from Afinsa its interest in A-Mark, as a result of which A-Mark became a wholly-owned subsidiary of SGI.
In March 2014, SGI distributed all of the shares of common stock of A-Mark to its stockholders, effecting a spinoff of A-Mark from SGI. As a result of this distribution, which we refer to as the spinoff, the Company is now a publicly traded company independent from SGI.
Over the years, A-Mark has been steadily expanding its products and services. In 1986, A-Mark became an authorized purchaser of gold and silver coins struck by the United States Mint. Similar arrangements with other sovereign mints followed, so that by the early 1990s, A-Mark had distribution relationships with all major sovereign mints offering bullion coins and bars internationally. In 2005, A-Mark launched its Collateral Finance Corporation (CFC) subsidiary for the purpose of making secured wholesale and retail loans collateralized by rare and semi-numismatic coins and bullion.
A-Mark opened an overseas office in Vienna, Austria in 2009, for the purpose of marketing its goods and services in the emerging Eastern European markets, and the office commenced full trading activity in 2012. This resulted in the expansion of A-Mark's trading hours from 12 to 17 hours a day, 5 days a week. Also in 2012, A-Mark formed, Transcontinental Depository Services, LLC (TDS), a subsidiary that provides customers with a turnkey global storage solution for their precious metals and precious metal products. In 2013, A-Mark began development of an electronic trading platform, which will allow its institutional and other large customers to execute transactions with A-Mark in precious metals and precious metal products through an automated interface. The platform is expected to be fully operational by late 2014.
Business Strategy
Through strategic relationships with its customers and suppliers and vertical integration across its markets, A-Mark seeks to grow its business volume, expand its presence in non-U.S. markets around the globe, with a principal focus on Europe and Asia, and enlarge its offering of complementary products and services. A-Mark seeks to continue its expansion by building on its strengths and what it perceives to be its competitive advantages. These include-
vertically integrated operations that span trading, distribution, storage, financing and other consignment products and services;
an extensive and varied customer base that includes banks and other financial institutions, coin dealers, jewelers, collectors, private investors, investment advisors, manufacturers, refiners, sovereign mints and mines;
secure storage for bullion;
access to primary market makers, suppliers, refiners and government mints that provide a dependable supply of precious metals and precious metal products;
trading offices in Santa Monica, California and Vienna, Austria, giving our customers live access to our trading desk 17 hours each trading day, even when many major world commodity markets are closed;
the largest precious metals dealer network in North America;
depository relationships in major financial centers around the world;
experienced traders who effectively manage A-Mark's exposure to commodity price risk; and
a strong management team, with over 100 years of collective industry experience.
Business Units
A-Mark operates through several business units comprising a single segment for accounting purposes, including Industrial, Coin and Bar, Trading, Finance, CFC and TDS.
Industrial. Our Industrial unit sells gold, silver, platinum and palladium to industrial and commercial users. Customers include coin fabricators such as mints, industrial manufacturers and fabricators, including electronics, and component parts companies, jewelry manufacturers and refiners. Depending on the intended usage, the metals are either investment or industrial grade and are generally in bar, wafer, plate, or grain.
Currently, orders are taken primarily telephonically, but A-Mark has developed an electronic trading platform that is in the process of being implemented and will be available to all buyers and sellers of precious metals by late 2014. Pricing is generally based on screen quotes for bullion transactions in the spot market, with two-day settlement, although special pricing and extended settlement terms are also available. For example, a customer can leave an order with A-Mark to purchase at a specified price below the current market price or an order to sell at a specified price above the current market price.
Almost all customers take physical delivery of the precious metal. Product is shipped upon receipt of payment, except where the purchase is financed under credit arrangements between A-Mark and the customer. We have relationships with precious metal depositories around the world to facilitate shipment of product from our inventory to our customers, in many cases for next day delivery. Product may either be drop shipped to the customer's location or delivered to a depository or other storage facility designated by the customer.
The Company periodically loans metals to customers on a short-term consignment basis, charging interest fees based on the value of the metals loaned. Such metal inventories are removed at the time the customers elect to price and purchase the metals, and the Company records a corresponding sale and receivable. Substantially all inventories loaned under consignment arrangements are secured by letters of credit issued by major financial institutions for the benefit of the Company or by cash.
Coin & Bar. Our Coin & Bar unit deals in over 200 different products, including gold and silver coins from around the world and gold, silver, platinum and palladium bars and ingots in a variety of weights, shapes and sizes. We currently market a limited number of such products with our proprietary “A-Mark” rounds and bars. Our customers are primarily coin and bullion dealers, although we also deal directly with banks and other financial institutions, commodity brokerage house, manufacturers, investors, investment advisors, and collectors who qualify as “eligible commercial entities” and “eligible contract participants,” as those terms are defined in the Commodity Exchange Act. Our customers range in size from large financial institutions to small local dealers.
We are an authorized distributor (or, in the case of the United States Mint, an authorized purchaser) of gold and silver coins for all of the major sovereign mints and various private mints. The sovereign mints include the United States Mint, the