Ritchie Bros. earnings rise 13%

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Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers announced net earnings for 2011 of $76.6 million, and adjusted net earnings of $73.6 million. This represents a 13% increase in adjusted net earnings over the previous year. Ritchie’s auction revenues for 2011 grew 11 percent to $396.1 million compared to $357.4 million for the same period in 2010. The company conducted 228 unreserved industrial and construction equipment auctions in 13 countries throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, Central America and Australia during 2011.

In 2011, gross auction proceeds were $3.7 billion, 13% higher than in 2010 and the highest  in the company’s history. The company’s auction revenue rate (auction revenues as a percentage of gross auction proceeds) was 10.66% during the year compared to 10.90% in 2010. Ritchie’s revised fee structure, which came into effect on July 1, 2011, contributed $21.9 million to auction revenues for 2011.

Ritchie’s gross auction proceeds of $1.0 billion for the fourth quarter of 2011 represented a 30% increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2010. Auction revenues were $113.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to $88.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2010, an increase of 28%.

“2011 was a successful year for Ritchie Bros. in the face of a challenging used equipment supply environment, and we achieved the targets that we set for the year” said Peter Blake, Ritchie Bros. CEO. “During 2011 we accomplished a number of significant milestones, including the highest gross auction proceeds and auction revenues in the company’s history and the successful launch of our new services, thanks to the tremendous team we have in place. 2011 was characterized by the ongoing tight supply of good quality late model used equipment, which resulted in a strong pricing environment and intense competition for this equipment. Our consignors reacted to this competition by increasing their preference for guarantee and purchase deals, contributing to an increase in our at risk business to 36% of gross auction proceeds for 2011.”13

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Mr. Blake continued: “We have begun 2012 with a number of very successful auctions, and the strong pricing and competitive environments we saw in 2011 have so far continued into 2012. We remain confident in our ability to grow our business in 2012 and believe we are well positioned to capitalize on improving used equipment transaction velocity, which is driven in part by recent increases in the production of new equipment.”