Interim Management Report of Fund Performance (in U.S. dollars)
Management Discussion of Fund Performance
Investment Objective and Strategies
Sprott Physical Silver Trust (the “Trust”) is a closed-end mutual fund trust organized 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 silver bullion. The Trust seeks to provide a secure, convenient and exchange-traded investment alternative for investors interested in holding physical silver bullion without the inconvenience that is typical of a direct investment in physical silver bullion. The Trust intends to achieve its objective by investing primarily in long-term holdings of unencumbered, fully allocated, physical silver bullion and does not speculate with regard to short-term changes in silver prices.
The units of the Trust are listed on the New York Stock Exchange Arca (“NYSE Arca”) under the ticker symbol “PSLV”, and the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”) under the ticker symbols “PSLV” and “PSLV.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 silver bullion amounted to $199.2 million and realized losses amounted to $1.5 million, compared to the change in unrealized gains of $28.5 million and no realized gains during the same period in 2023.
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 2,450,000 units for $19.8 million of silver bullion, and 5,179 units for a nominal amount of cash. Comparatively, for the same period in 2023, the Trust issued 8,843,118 units for gross proceeds of $67.4 million, and redeemed 5,548 units for a nominal amount of cash.
The value of the net assets1 of the Trust as at March 31, 2024 was $4,241.7 million or $8.74 per unit, compared to $4,069.6 million or $8.35 per unit as at December 31, 2023. The Trust held 169,826,392 ounces of physical silver bullion as at March 31, 2024 compared to 170,868,238 ounces at December 31, 2023. As at March 31, 2024, the spot price of silver bullion was $24.96 per ounce compared to a spot price of silver bullion of $23.80 per ounce as at December 31, 2023. The Trust returned 4.8% compared to the return on spot silver of 4.9% for the three months ended March 31, 2024. Comparatively, for the same period in 2023, the Trust returned 0.4% compared to the return on spot silver of 0.6%.
The units closed at $8.29 on the NYSE Arca and $8.20 on the TSX on March 31, 2024 compared to closing prices of $8.08 on the NYSE Arca and $8.18 on the TSX on December 31, 2023. These units are denominated in U.S. dollars on both exchanges. During the three months ended March 31, 2024, the Trust’s units traded on the NYSE Arca at an average discount to net asset value of approximately 4.3%, compared to approximately 3.0% for the same period in 2023.