1. DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS

Basis of Presentation

The condensed consolidated financial statements comprise those of A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. ("A-Mark" or the "Company"), its wholly-owned consolidated subsidiaries (including a wholly-owned variable interest entity), and its joint venture in which the Company has a controlling interest.

Business Segments

The Company conducts its operations in three reportable segments: (i) Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services, (ii) Direct-to-Consumer, and (iii) Secured Lending. Each of these reportable segments represents an aggregation of operating segments that meets the aggregation criteria set forth in the Segment Reporting Topic 280 of the Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC 280"). (See Note 19.)

Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services

The Company operates its Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services segment directly and through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, A-Mark Trading AG (“AMTAG”), Transcontinental Depository Services, LLC ("TDS" or “Storage”), A-M Global Logistics, LLC (“AMGL” or "Logistics"), and AM&ST Associates, LLC ("AMST" or the "SilverTowne Mint").

The Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services segment operates as a full-service precious metals company. We offer gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in the form of bars, plates, powder, wafers, grain, ingots, and coins. Our Industrial unit services manufacturers and fabricators of products utilizing or incorporating precious metals. Our Coin and Bar unit deals in over 1,800 coin and bar products in a variety of weights, shapes, and sizes for distribution to dealers and other qualified purchasers. We have a marketing support office in Vienna, Austria, and a trading center in El Segundo, California. The trading center, for buying and selling precious metals, is available to receive orders 24 hours every day, even when many major world commodity markets are closed. In addition to Wholesale Sales activity, A-Mark offers its customers a variety of ancillary services, including financing, storage, consignment, logistics, and various customized financial programs. As a U.S. Mint-authorized purchaser of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium coins, A-Mark purchases product directly from the U.S. Mint and other sovereign mints for sale to its customers.

Through its wholly-owned subsidiary AMTAG, the Company promotes A-Mark's products and services to the international market. Through our wholly-owned subsidiary TDS, we offer a variety of managed storage options for precious metals products to financial institutions, dealers, investors, and collectors around the world.

The Company's wholly-owned subsidiary AMGL is based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and provides our customers an array of complementary services, including receiving, handling, inventorying, processing, packing, and shipping of precious metals and custom coins on a secure basis.

Through its wholly-owned subsidiary AMST, the Company designs and produces minted silver products. Our SilverTowne Mint operations allow us to provide greater product selection to our customers and greater pricing stability within the supply chain, as well as to gain increased access to silver during volatile market environments, which have historically created higher demand for precious metals products.

Direct-to-Consumer

The Company operates its Direct-to-Consumer segment through its wholly-owned subsidiaries JM Bullion, Inc. (“JMB”) and Goldline, Inc. (“Goldline”). As of September 30, 2022, JMB had five wholly-owned subsidiaries: Gold Price Group, Inc. (“GPG”), Silver.com, Inc. (“Silver.com”), Goldline Metal Buying Corp. (“GMBC”), Provident Metals Corp. (“PMC”), and Cybermetals Corp. ("CyberMetals"). Goldline, Inc. owns 100% of AMIP, LLC ("AMIP"), and has a 50% ownership interest in Precious Metals Purchasing Partners, LLC ("PMPP"). As the context requires, references in these Notes to “JMB” may include GPG, Silver.com, GMBC, PMC, and CyberMetals, and references to “Goldline” may include AMIP and PMPP.

JM Bullion, Inc.

JMB is a leading e-commerce retailer providing access to a broad array of gold, silver, copper, platinum, and palladium products through its websites and marketplaces. As of September 30, 2022, JMB operated six separately branded, company-owned websites targeting specific niches within the precious metals retail market. Typically, JMB offers approximately 4,000 different products during a fiscal year, measured by stock keeping units or SKUs, on its websites. This number can vary over time, particularly when demand is high and certain SKUs may be out of stock.

In April 2022, JMB commercially launched the CyberMetals online platform, where customers can purchase and sell fractional shares of digital gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bars in a range of denominations. CyberMetals’ customers have the option to convert their digital holdings to fabricated precious metals products via an integrated redemption flow with JMB. These products may be designated for storage by the Company or shipped directly to the customer.

Goldline, Inc.

The Company acquired Goldline in August 2017 through an asset purchase transaction with Goldline, LLC, which had been in operation since 1960. Goldline is a direct retailer of precious metals to the investor community, and markets its precious metal products on television, radio, and the internet, as well as through customer service outreach. Goldline’s subsidiary AMIP manages its intellectual property. PMPP was formed in fiscal 2019 pursuant to terms of a joint venture agreement, for the purpose of purchasing precious metals from the partners' retail customers, and then reselling the acquired products back to affiliates of the partners. PMPP commenced its operations in fiscal 2020.

Secured Lending

The Company operates its Secured Lending segment through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Collateral Finance Corporation, LLC, including its two wholly-owned subsidiaries AM Capital Funding, LLC (“AMCF”) and CFC Alternative Investments (“CAI”), (collectively “CFC”).

CFC is a California licensed finance lender that originates and acquires commercial loans secured by bullion and numismatic coins. CFC's customers include coin and precious metal dealers, investors, and collectors.

AMCF, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CFC, was formed for the purpose of securitizing eligible secured loans of CFC. AMCF issued and administers the AMCF Notes. (See Note 15.)

CAI is a holding company that has a 50%-ownership stake in Collectible Card Partners, LLC ("CCP"). The purpose of CCP is to provide capital to fund commercial loans secured by graded sport cards and sports memorabilia.