Ritchie Bros. 1Q auctions revenues grow 14%

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers says its auction revenues for the first quarter of 2012 grew 14% to $101.3 million compared to $88.5 million for the same period in 2011. Ritchie conducted 38 unreserved industrial auctions in nine countries throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, Central America and Australia during the first quarter of 2012.

Gross auction proceeds and auction revenues
For the three months ended March 31, 2012, gross auction proceeds were $865 million, 2% higher than the same period in 2011. The company’s auction revenue rate (auction revenues as a percentage of gross auction proceeds) was 11.71% during the three months ended March 31, 2012 compared to 10.39% in the same period in 2011.

Net earnings for the quarter

Summary comments
The company says  ” improving optimism among our customers and ongoing original equipment manufacturer backlogs have created pent up demand for new and near new equipment, driving strength in the used equipment market. We remain confident that our performance for 2012 is on track with our plans.”

Online bidding statistics
Ritchie Bros. sold over $275 million of equipment, trucks and other assets to online bidders during the first quarter of 2012, representing a 23% increase compared to the same period in 2011 (first quarter of 2011: approximately $223 million). Internet bidders continued to comprise over 50% of the total bidder registrations at Ritchie Bros. industrial auctions during the first quarter of 2012. Since launching its real-time online bidding service in 2002, the company has now sold over $5.5 billion worth of trucks, equipment, and other assets to online bidders..

Website statistics
The Ritchie Bros. website (www.rbauction.com) attracted roughly 1.3 million unique visitors in the first quarter of 2012, a 30% increase compared to the same period last year. Unique non-English speaking visitors increased 30% in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the first quarter of 2011.