Ritchie Bros.--Ritchie Bros. Sets Record for Online Sales in 2010

$3.3 billion of equipment sold in 2010, including over $860 million sold to online bidders

Vancouver-based Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers sold approximately $3.3 billion of equipment at 336 unreserved auctions around the world in 2010. Ritchie Bros. attracted record bidder registrations to its auctions, including record online bidders who purchased over $860 million of equipment, trucks and other assets in 2010, a 4 percent increase compared to 2009.

Ritchie Bros. (www.rbauction.com) conducted its final unreserved auctions of 2010 last week and plans to release its full audited financial statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis for 2010 on February 24, 2011. All dollar amounts in this release are stated in United States dollars, unless otherwise indicated.

Peter Blake, the company's CEO, commented: "Although our gross auction proceeds declined compared to last year, our auction revenue rate will likely exceed the strong performance we achieved in 2009. It is tough to say what will happen in the near term; however, we are seeing promising signs that the market may be moving to a more balanced state."

"2010 was a challenging year for Ritchie Bros. yet we maintained our customer focus and offered them compelling value," added Blake. "We continued to introduce new innovations in 2010 that further enhance the value of our auctions for our customers and are crucial to driving our long-term growth and success. These developments included the launch of our 21-language website and the deployment of our Timed Auction system. Ongoing investment in innovation has helped us to enhance our customers' experience, as well as streamline our processes while reaching record bidder registrations. In addition to these developments, we also expanded our auction site network to 43 sites and grew our sales force, which are also important investments for our future."

Source: AED News