Investors in gold outperform the ISEQ by 316%
Jun, 12, 2009 | GoldCore
Irish investors in gold outperform the ISEQ by 316% ~ Irish bullion dealers GoldCore target 60% increase in turnover in 2009 ~ Irish investors in gold have outperformed the ISEQ by 316%i since the start of the financial crisis in August 2007, new research by GoldCore, Ireland’s leading gold bullion dealers, reveals today (Monday, 15 June). While gold has risen 41.5% ((€484/oz to €685/oz), the ISEQ has fallen by 66% over this periodii, with many individual shares falling further. Gold has also outperformed the FTSE, Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 over the past year and since 1971 (ex dividends) when gold became a freely traded market with the end of the Gold Standard.
Irish-owned GoldCore, which today re-brands from Gold Investments, has traded gold in Ireland since 2003 and had sales of €42.3million in 2008 from customers in over 30 countries. The company is targeting an increase of turnover of 60% to €67.7 million in 2009 as Irish investors increasingly realise the importance of a properly diversified investment portfolio and look to gold as a safe haven investment.
Had Irish investors had more diversified investment portfolios rather than relying on equity and property investments, they would be in healthier financial positions today according to the GoldCore research. €10,000 invested in gold five years ago would now be worth €21,190, compared with €5,561 for the same investment in the ISEQ. With international markets remaining turbulent and economic confidence low, demand for gold is continuing to incease and GoldCore and other analysts predict that gold will again reach its inflation adjusted record high of $2,400/oz over the next four to seven years from $950/oz today.
Commenting on the research, GoldCore director Stephen Flood said: “Gold remains the ultimate form of financial insurance for investors seeking to protect hard earned assets from the ravages of macro economic risks. The financial system rule book is being rewritten as we speak and the relationship between risk and rewards is ever changing. In such times, the only true friend an investor can have is gold.”
Gold is also attractive to Irish investors as there is no stamp duty or VAT on investment grade gold bullion. Additionally, the Irish Revenue Commissioners have approved investments in gold via the Australian Perth Mint Certificate Programme for Self Administered Pension Schemes.
GoldCore is the sole Approved Dealer in the EU for the Perth Mint Programme. The company was approved as a Multi Agency Intermediary by the Irish Financial Regulator in 2005 and was recognised as the Financial Analyst of the year by Money Mate and The Investor magazine in 2006.