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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE:RBA, TSX:RBA), the world’s largest industrial auctioneer, today announced that the two-day unreserved auction held at its permanent auction site in Los Angeles (Perris), California broke all previous Gross Auction Proceeds records for the location. Total Gross Auction Proceeds for the unreserved public auction exceeded US$29million.
Over 2,000 people registered to bid at the auction, and more than 2,400 items sold completely unreserved. Bidders at the August 29 & 30 sale were from 21 countries, as well as 46 U.S. states and seven Canadian provinces.
Richard Aldersley, Ritchie Bros. Area Manager for California – South, was very pleased with the sale results. “In spite of the bad news about high oil prices, unrest in the Middle East, and the declining housing market, we had an amazing sale here this week.”
He went on to note, “Our March event had Gross Auction Proceeds of $24 million, and our June event had Gross Auction Proceeds of $28 million, both of which were records for the location at the time. We beat both of those results with this sale, making this our third record-setting auction in a row. It’s definitely business as usual for our customers.”
In addition to being the highest grossing sale ever at the Los Angeles auction site, this sale also resulted in both the largest number of lots sold at a Ritchie Bros. auction in California and the highest Gross Auction Proceeds over the internet for a California auction.
More than 615 internet bidders, using the Company’s real-time bidding service rbauctionBid-Live, purchased over $6 million worth of trucks and equipment items at the California sale. Internet participants were buyers or runner-up bidders on 24% of the lots available for online bidding.
The sale featured a large amount of construction equipment, including more than 30 crawler tractors, 25 motor scrapers, 35 hydraulic excavators, and 50 wheel loaders. Buyers also purchased more than 50 truck tractors; four of those truck tractors were unused 2007 models.
There are currently more than 25,000 truck and equipment items that will be sold at 40 unreserved industrial auctions and 10 unreserved agricultural auctions on the upcoming Ritchie Bros. auction calendar; more items are being added daily. Over the next week, the Company will hold unreserved public auctions in Las Vegas, NV; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Cleveland, OH; Toluca, Mexico; and Edmonton, AB. Details on all upcoming Ritchie Bros. auctions, including equipment listings, are available on www.rbauction.com.
About Ritchie Bros.
Ritchie Bros. is the world’s largest auctioneer of industrial equipment, operating through over 110 locations in more than 25 countries around the world. The Company sells, through unreserved public auctions, a broad range of used and unused industrial equipment including equipment utilized in the construction, transportation, material handling, mining, forestry, petroleum, marine, real estate, and agricultural industries. The Company maintains a web site at www.rbauction.com.
Investors and potential investors should note that this information may not be indicative of the overall financial performance of the Company for this or any period. |
