SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 24, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMRK ), a full-service precious metals trading company and an official distributor for all major sovereign Mints, is set to join the Russell Microcap Index when Russell Investments reconstitutes its comprehensive set of U.S. and global equity indexes on June 27, 2014, according to a preliminary list of additions posted June 13 on www.russell.com/indexes .
Membership in the Russell Microcap Index, which remains in place for one year, results in automatic inclusion in the appropriate growth and value style indexes. Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily by objective market-capitalization rankings and style attributes.
"Joining the Russell Microcap Index represents an important milestone for A-Mark that we expect will increase awareness of our accomplishments," said the company's CEO Greg Roberts. "This follows several other recent milestones for A-Mark, including our listing on the NASDAQ Global Select and reporting two sequential quarters of gross margin improvement."
Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for active investment strategies. Russell calculates more than 700,000 benchmarks daily covering approximately 98 percent of the investable market globally, 80 countries and more than 10,000 securities. Approximately $5.2 trillion in assets are benchmarked to the Russell Indexes.
Annual reconstitution of Russell Indexes captures the 4,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization to create the Russell 3000® Index and Russell Microcap Index. These investment tools originated from Russell's multi-manager investment business in the early 1980s when the company saw the need for a more objective, market-driven set of benchmarks in order to evaluate outside investment managers.
Total returns data for the Russell Microcap and other Russell Indexes is available at www.russell.com/indexes/data/US_Equity/Russell_US_Index_returns.asp .
About Russell
Russell Investments (Russell) is a global asset manager and one of only a few firms that offers actively managed multi-asset portfolios and services that include advice, investments and implementation. Russell stands with institutional investors, financial advisors and individuals working with their advisors—using the firm's core capabilities that extend across capital market insights, manager research, portfolio construction, portfolio implementation and indexes to help each achieve their desired investment outcomes.
Russell has more than $259 billion in assets under management (as of 3/31/2014) and works with over 2,500 institutional clients, independent distribution partners and individual investors globally. As a consultant to some of the largest pools of capital in the world, Russell has $2.4 trillion in assets under advisement (as of 6/30/2013). It has four decades of experience researching and selecting investment managers and meets annually with more than 2,200 managers around the world. Russell traded more than $1.6 trillion in 2013 through its implementation services business. Russell also calculates approximately 700,000 benchmarks daily covering 98% of the investable market globally, including more than 80 countries and more than 10,000 securities. Approximately $5.2 trillion in assets are benchmarked (as of 12/31/2013) to the Russell Indexes, which have provided investors with 30 years of smarter beta.
About A-Mark Precious Metals
A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. is a full-service precious metals trading company and an official distributor for many government mints throughout the world. The company offers gold, silver, platinum and palladium in the form of bars, plates, powder, wafers, grain, ingots and coins. Its Industrial unit services manufacturers and fabricators of products utilizing or incorporating precious metals, while its Coin & Bar unit deals in over 200 coin and bar products in a variety of weights, shapes and sizes for distribution to dealers and other qualified purchasers. The company operates trading centers in Santa Monica, California, and Vienna, Austria, for buying and selling precious metals.
In addition to wholesale and trading activity, A-Mark offers customers a variety of services, including financing, consignment and various customized financial programs. As a U.S. Mint-authorized purchaser of gold, silver and platinum coins, A-Mark purchases bullion products directly from the U.S. Mint for sale to customers. A-Mark also has distributorships with other sovereign mints, including in Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Mexico and South Africa. Customers of A‑Mark include mints, manufacturers and fabricators, refiners, coin and metal dealers, banks and other financial institutions, jewelers, investors and collectors. For more information about A-Mark Precious Metals, visit www.amark.com .
Through its subsidiary Collateral Finance Corporation, a licensed California Finance Lender, the company offers loans collateralized by numismatic and semi-numismatic coins and bullion to coin and metal dealers, investors and collectors. Through its Transcontinental Depository Services subsidiary, it offers a variety of managed storage options for precious metals products to financial institutions, dealers, investors and collectors around the world.
Company Contact: Thor Gjerdrum, EVP & COO A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. (310) 587-1414 Investor Relations Contact: Matt Glover or Michael Koehler Liolios Group, Inc. (949) 574-3860
