Record gold prices helped sales surge at Spectrum Group International Inc., which debuted at No. 5 on the Business Journal’s 2010 list of the fastest-growing public companies.
Spectrum, which primarily sells and trades precious metals, posted 110% revenue growth for the three years through June 30.
Spectrum is the largest company by sales in the top 10 and the second biggest on the entire list of 38 companies, behind No. 30 Western Digital Corp.
The skyrocketing cost of gold and silver drove Spectrum’s gain and helped it land on the list.
More than 95% of Spectrum’s revenue is from gold, which it buys from governments including those of the U.S., Canada, Australia, South Africa, China and Austria. It then sells the gold to banks, coin dealers, jewelers, collectors, investors, refiners and manufacturers.
Gold, which has seen its price jump more than 30% in the past 12 months, hit an all-time high last week at $1,300 an ounce. Silver rose to its highest level since 1980, hitting $21.61 an ounce last week.
Profits are another matter for Spectrum. The company nets pennies on the dollar for its trades. For the 12 months through June, Spectrum earned $438,000.
Spectrum also holds auctions of stamps, coins, antique firearms and military collectibles, and runs a wine auction business it started last year.
The company’s smaller business of auctioned collectibles slumped in the past year with the weak economy.
A few years ago, Spectrum Group ranked as the third largest auction house in the country behind London-based Christie’s International PLC and New York’s Sotheby’s. It now ranks lower but still is among the top 10 auction houses.
Spectrum still is recovering from a stock collapse in 2006 after it was implicated in an alleged Ponzi scheme involving stamps in Spain, where majority owner Afinsa Bienes Tangibles SA is based.
The company’s shares once traded on Nasdaq but now are on the low-profile Bulletin Board exchange with a recent market value of $60 million.
THE NUMBERS
Three-year growth: 110%
12-month revenue through June: $6 billion
Yearly profit through June: $438,000
Market value: $60 million
Employees: 143, 60 in OC
Company: sells, trades collectibles, gold, silver other precious metals
