Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE and TSX: RBA), the world’s largest auctioneer of industrial equipment, announces results from its unreserved auctions held last week in Edmonton, AB and Houston, TX, two of the larger auctions held during another busy week of auction activity. The Company attracted bidders from around the world to these two auctions, including more than 1,300 first-time bidders. The March 26 & 27, 2008 unreserved public auction at the Ritchie Bros. permanent auction site in Edmonton generated more than CA$50 million in gross auction proceeds and set a new site record for total number of bidder registrations. The unreserved public auction at the Company’s permanent auction site in Houston, TX on March 27 & 28, 2008 generated more than US$30 million in gross auction proceeds and set new records for total value of internet purchases and total number of online buyers.

EDMONTON, ALBERTA - Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers set a new site record for bidder registrations both onsite and online at its unreserved industrial auction in Edmonton, Alberta on March 26 & 27, 2008. The public auction attracted more than 6,330 bidder registrations, 600 more than the site’s previous record from an unreserved auction held one year ago. The two-day auction held last week generated gross auction proceeds in excess of CA$50 million, more than CA$8 million of which came from internet buyers. Over 3,700 items from more than 500 consignors were sold, with registered bidders participating from 17 countries, including 32 U.S. states and all 13 Canadian provinces and territories. Over 1,100 of those participants took part live and online using the Ritchie Bros. real-time internet bidding service, rbauctionBid-Live.

“A tremendous number of people attended our sale, and more than 900 were first-time registrants,” said Brian Glenn, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Regional Manager. “Our first auction of the year saw strong sales results on forestry and construction equipment, with 34 percent of total proceeds going to buyers from outside Alberta.”

Earl Marshall owns Earl Marshall Trucking out of Erskine, AB and sold 13 equipment items in the Edmonton auction, including wheel loaders, end dumps trailers, a dump truck, an aggregate screen plant and aggregate conveyer. He has been a Ritchie Bros. customer for a more than five years and says the number one reason he sells equipment with Ritchie Bros. is the great relationship he has with his Ritchie Bros. Territory Manager and the team at the Edmonton auction site.

“They are professional and they are experts at what they do,” said Mr. Marshall. “They know the market and they know what my trucks and equipment are worth. But most of all, they care about their relationship with me. I used to sell my equipment privately or through other means, but now I strictly use Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers. They are a good group of people who treat me well. That is truly Ritchie Bros.’ secret - I really do believe they have the best staff around.”

HOUSTON, TEXAS - Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers conducted a two-day unreserved industrial auction in Houston, TX last week with record-breaking online gross auction proceeds for the site and the highest number of buyers purchasing live and online, using rbauctionBid-Live. The unreserved public auction, held March 27 & 28, 2008, featured more than 2,300 lots that sold for total gross auction proceeds of US$30 million. More than US$8 million of the trucks and equipment was sold to 175 online buyers, beating last year’s site record for online sales by more than US$1 million.

More than 2,350 bidders participated in the unreserved public auction from 38 countries, including 45 U.S. states and nine Canadian provinces. Over 400 of the registered bidders were first-time registrants at a Ritchie Bros. auction.

“Our permanent auction site is a great location for people who are wanting to purchase equipment in person or using our online bidding service,” said Alan McVicker, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Regional Manager. “The fact that we are located right near the Port of Houston makes it easy and practical for people to purchase equipment and ship it to wherever they are located around the world. Forty-eight percent of purchases at this auction were made by customers located outside Texas and more than 25 percent of purchases went to buyers located outside of the country.”

Alan Walker of Houston-based Southern Core Supply has been buying and selling equipment at Ritchie Bros. auctions for close to 20 years. He was pleased with the refurbishing that was done to his equipment before the sale and says it helped him get better returns for his machines at the auction.

“I really believe that Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers is the greatest auction company there is,” said Mr. Walker. “They have very professional staff. My Territory Manager takes care of absolutely every detail; I just drop off my equipment and Ritchie Bros. takes care of the rest. They get a lot of buyers to their auctions and the internet bidding helps a lot too. At the end of the day you will get exactly what your machine is worth.”

The Ritchie Bros. auction calendar currently has 47 upcoming unreserved industrial auctions and 97 unreserved agricultural auctions. Go to www.rbauction.com for more details.

Posted: 03|31|08 at 7:41 pm. Filed under: Auction News.