Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Transactions

v3.19.3.a.u2
Derivative Instruments and Hedging Transactions
 6 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]  
Derivative Instruments and Hedging Transactions
DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS AND HEDGING TRANSACTIONS
The Company is exposed to market risk, such as changes in commodity prices and foreign exchange rates. To manage the volatility related to these exposures, the Company enters into various derivative products, such as forwards and futures contracts. By policy, the Company historically has entered into derivative financial instruments for the purpose of hedging substantially all of Company's market exposure to precious metals prices, and not for speculative purposes. The Company’s gains (losses) on derivative instruments are substantially offset by the changes in the fair market value of the underlying precious metals inventory, both of which are recorded in cost of sales in the consolidated statements of operations.
Commodity Price Management
The Company manages the value of certain assets and liabilities of its trading business, including trading inventory, by employing a variety of hedging strategies. These strategies include the management of exposure to changes in the market values of the Company's trading inventory through the purchase and sale of a variety of derivative instruments, such as forwards and futures contracts.
The Company enters into derivative transactions solely for the purpose of hedging its inventory subject to price risk, and not for speculative market purposes. Due to the nature of the Company's global hedging strategy, the Company is not using hedge accounting as defined under Topic 815 of the ASC, whereby the gains or losses would be deferred and included as a component of other comprehensive income. Instead, gains or losses resulting from the Company's futures and forward contracts and open sale and purchase commitments are reported in the condensed consolidated statement of operations as unrealized gains or losses on commodity contracts (a component of cost of sales) with the related unrealized amounts due from or to counterparties reflected as derivative assets or liabilities on the condensed consolidated balance sheets.
The Company's trading inventory and purchase and sale transactions consist primarily of precious metal products. The value of these assets and liabilities are marked-to-market daily to the prevailing closing price of the underlying precious metals. The Company's precious metals inventory is subject to market value changes, created by changes in the underlying commodity market prices. Inventory purchased or borrowed by the Company is subject to price changes. Inventory borrowed is considered a natural hedge, since changes in value of the metal held are offset by the obligation to return the metal to the supplier.
    The Company’s open sale and purchase commitments typically settle within 2 business days, and for those commitments that do not have stated settlement dates, the Company has the right to settle the positions upon demand. Futures and forwards contracts open at end of any period typically settle within 30 days. Open sale and purchase commitments are subject to changes in value between the date the purchase or sale price is fixed (the trade date) and the date the metal is received or delivered (the settlement date). The Company seeks to minimize the effect of price changes of the underlying commodity through the use of forward and futures contracts.
The Company's policy is to substantially hedge its inventory position, net of open sale and purchase commitments that are subject to price risk. The Company regularly enters into precious metals commodity forward and futures contracts with financial institutions to hedge price changes that would cause changes in the value of its physical metals positions and purchase commitments and sale commitments. The Company has access to all of the precious metals markets, allowing it to place hedges. The Company also maintains relationships with major market makers in every major precious metals dealing center.
The Company’s management sets credit and position risk limits. These limits include gross position limits for counterparties engaged in sales and purchase transactions with the Company. They also include collateral limits for different types of sale and purchase transactions that counterparties may engage in from time to time.
Derivative Assets and Liabilities
The Company's derivative assets and liabilities represent the net fair value of the difference (or intrinsic value) between market values and trade values at the trade date for open precious metals sale and purchase contracts, as adjusted on a daily basis for changes in market values of the underlying metals, until settled. The Company's derivative assets and liabilities represent the net fair value of open precious metals forwards and futures contracts. The precious metals forwards and futures contracts are settled at the contract settlement date.
All of our commodity derivative contracts are under master netting arrangements and include both asset and liability positions (i.e., offsetting derivative instruments). As such, for the Company's derivative contracts with the same counterparty, the receivables and payables have been netted on the condensed consolidated balance sheets. Such derivative contracts include open sale and purchase commitments, futures, forwards and margin accounts. In the table below, the aggregate gross and net derivative receivables and payables balances are presented by contract type and type of hedge, as of December 31, 2019 and June 30, 2019.
 
 
December 31, 2019
 
June 30, 2019
 
 
 
 
 
in thousands
 
Gross Derivative
 
Amounts Netted
 
Cash Collateral Pledge
 
Net Derivative
 
Gross Derivative
 
Amounts Netted
 
Cash Collateral Pledge
 
Net Derivative
Nettable derivative assets:
Open sale and purchase commitments
 
$
6,815

 
$
(1,865
)
 
$
—

 
$
4,950

 
$
2,874

 
$
(552
)
 
$
—

 
$
2,322

Option contracts
 
1

 
—

 
—

 
1

 
61

 
—

 
—

 
61

Future contracts
 
60

 
—

 
—

 
60

 
2

 
—

 
—

 
2

Forward contracts
 
348

 
—

 
—

 
348

 
43

 
—

 
—

 
43

 
 
$
7,224

 
$
(1,865
)
 
$
—

 
$
5,359

 
$
2,980

 
$
(552
)
 
$
—

 
$
2,428

Nettable derivative liabilities:
Open sale and purchase commitments
 
$
2,738

 
$
(149
)
 
$
—

 
$
2,589

 
$
4,093

 
$
(271
)
 
$
—

 
$
3,822

Margin accounts
 
7,873

 
—

 
(4,255
)
 
3,618

 
11,652

 
—

 
(8,671
)
 
2,981

Liability on price protection programs
 
2

 
—

 
—

 
2

 
22

 
—

 
—

 
22

Future contracts
 
2,840

 
—

 
—

 
2,840

 
1,241

 
—

 
—

 
1,241

Forward contracts
 
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
2,044

 
(139
)
 
—

 
1,905

 
 
$
13,453

 
$
(149
)
 
$
(4,255
)
 
$
9,049

 
$
19,052

 
$
(410
)
 
$
(8,671
)
 
$
9,971


Gains or Losses on Derivative Instruments
The Company records the derivative at the trade date with a corresponding unrealized gain (loss), shown as a component of cost of sales in the condensed consolidated statements of operations. The Company adjusts the derivatives to fair value on a daily basis until the transactions are settled. When these contracts are net settled, the unrealized gains and losses are reversed and the realized gains and losses for forward contracts are recorded in revenue and cost of sales, and the net realized gains and losses for futures and option contracts are recorded in cost of sales.
Below is a summary of the net gains (losses) on derivative instruments for the three and six months ended December 31, 2019 and 2018.
in thousands
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Three Months Ended
 
Six Months Ended
 
 
 
December 31, 2019
 
December 31, 2018
 
December 31, 2019
 
December 31, 2018
 
Gains (losses) on derivative instruments:
 
Unrealized (losses) gains on open future commodity and forward contracts and open sale and purchase commitments, net
 
$
(15,356
)
 
$
8,408

 
$
9,755

 
$
(11,490
)
 
Realized gains (losses) on future commodity contracts, net
 
4,334

 
(1,239
)
 
(12,111
)
 
3,526

 
 
 
$
(11,022
)
 
$
7,169

 
$
(2,356
)
 
$
(7,964
)
 

The Company’s net gains (losses) on derivative instruments, as shown in the table above, were substantially offset by the changes in fair market value of the underlying precious metals inventory and open sale and purchase commitments, which were also recorded in cost of sales in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.
Summary of Hedging Positions
In a hedging relationship, the change in the value of the derivative financial instrument is offset to a great extent by the change in the value of the underlying hedged item. The following table summarizes the results of our hedging activities, which shows the precious metal commodity inventory position, net of open sale and purchase commitments, that is subject to price risk as of December 31, 2019 and at June 30, 2019.
in thousands
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
December 31, 2019
 
June 30, 2019
 
Inventories
 
$
262,931

 
$
292,861

 
Precious metals held under financing arrangements
 
196,972

 
208,792

 
 
 
459,903

 
501,653

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Less unhedgeable inventories:
 
 
 
 
 
Commemorative coin inventory, held at lower of cost or net realizable value
 
(1,398
)
 
(17
)
 
Premium on metals position
 
(4,177
)
 
(4,424
)
 
Precious metal value not hedged
 
(5,575
)
 
(4,441
)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
454,328

 
497,212

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Commitments at market:
 
 

 
 

 
Open inventory purchase commitments
 
264,219

 
166,600

 
Open inventory sales commitments
 
(169,618
)
 
(158,870
)
 
Margin sale commitments
 
(7,873
)
 
(11,652
)
 
In-transit inventory no longer subject to market risk
 
(2,640
)
 
(809
)
 
Unhedgeable premiums on open commitment positions
 
1,849

 
838

 
Borrowed precious metals
 
(192,889
)
 
(201,144
)
 
Product financing arrangements
 
(79,766
)
 
(94,505
)
 
Advances on industrial metals
 
11,196

 
8,644

 
 
 
(175,522
)
 
(290,898
)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Precious metal subject to price risk
 
278,806

 
206,314

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Precious metal subject to derivative financial instruments:
 
 
 
 
 
Precious metals forward contracts at market values
 
99,652

 
133,612

 
Precious metals futures contracts at market values
 
179,255

 
72,218

 
Total market value of derivative financial instruments
 
278,907

 
205,830

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net precious metals subject to commodity price risk
 
$
(101
)
 
$
484

 

Notional Balances of Derivatives
The notional balances of the Company's derivative instruments, consisting of contractual metal quantities, are expressed at current spot prices of the underlying precious metal commodity. As of December 31, 2019 and June 30, 2019, the Company had the following outstanding commitments and open forward and future contracts:
in thousands
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
December 31, 2019
 
June 30, 2019
 
Purchase commitments
 
$
264,219

 
$
166,600

 
Sales commitments
 
$
(169,618
)
 
$
(158,870
)
 
Margin sales commitments
 
$
(7,873
)
 
$
(11,652
)
 
Open forward contracts
 
$
99,652

 
$
133,612

 
Open futures contracts
 
$
179,255

 
$
72,218

 

The contract amounts (i.e., notional balances) of the Company's forward and futures contracts and the open sales and purchase commitments are not reflected in the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheet. The Company records the difference between the market price of the underlying metal or contract and the trade amount at fair value.
The Company is exposed to the risk of failure of the counterparties to its derivative contracts. Significant judgment is applied by the Company when evaluating the fair value implications. The Company regularly reviews the creditworthiness of its major counterparties and monitors its exposure to concentrations. At December 31, 2019, the Company believes its risk of counterparty default is mitigated as a result of such evaluation and the short-term duration of these arrangements.
Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Management
The Company utilizes foreign currency forward contracts to manage the effect of foreign currency exchange fluctuations on its sale and purchase transactions. These contracts generally have maturities of less than one week. The accounting treatment of our foreign currency exchange derivative instruments is similar to the accounting treatment of our commodity derivative instruments, that is, the change in the value in the financial instrument is immediately recognized as a component of cost of sales.
Unrealized gains on foreign exchange derivative instruments shown on the face of the condensed consolidated statements of operations totaled $125,000 and $52,000 for the three months ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Unrealized gains (losses) on foreign exchange derivative instruments shown on the face of the condensed consolidated statements of operations totaled $3,000 and $(18,000) for the six months ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The market values (fair values) of the Company’s foreign exchange forward contracts and the net open sale and purchase commitment transactions, denominated in foreign currencies, outstanding are as follows:
in thousands
 
December 31, 2019
 
June 30, 2019
Foreign exchange forward contracts
 
$
3,642

 
$
5,934

Open sale and purchase commitment transactions, net
 
$
4,877

 
$
4,667