LONDON, 14 November 2011 - BullionVault's low-cost gold and silver market online was featured this morning on the BBC News Channel - the UK's most-watched rolling news station.
Noting the 48% rise in BullionVault's pre-tax profit to £5.5 million during its latest financial year, the BBC News headlines called BullionVault "the world's largest physical gold and silver market".
"It's been a very strong year for BullionVault, but our users have also done very well," said head of research Adrian Ash, interviewed live in the studio by business presenter Penny Haslam.
"Obviously, those who bought at the very peak [in gold] in early September are going to be slightly under water right now, but really it's the long-term trend you need to look at. Gold has been rising very steadily now, year on year, since 2002."
Asked about what impact the financial crisis is having on gold investment globally, Adrian explained that "In the West, you've got people despairing of what's happening to currency, what's happening to economic management, and particularly what's happening to interest rates.
"In the UK now, you've got the worst negative real return on cash, actually losing value when you put it in the bank, of about 5% per year - the worst we've had since the late 1970s. So people are turning to gold, which is an obvious inflation hedge [because] it's rare and tightly supplied.
"Gold is also indestructible, and that makes it very appealing when you're faced with the kind of problems we've got in Europe now, where governments are potentially going to default on their debt."
Gold bullion - Buy online at live gold prices.
