Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers sold approximately $561 million of equipment at 31 unreserved auctions around the world in September 2012, the highest September gross auction proceeds in Company history and one of its largest ever months. The Company also achieved its highest ever third quarter gross auction proceeds with approximately $848 million of equipment sold during the quarter ended September 30, 2012. The Ritchie Bros. website (www.rbauction.com) attracted roughly 4.1 million unique visitors in the first nine months of 2012, a 39% increase compared to the same period in 2011.

“Our record September and third quarter gross auction proceeds reflect steady improvement in equipment supply and demand dynamics, which we discussed on our August earnings call,” said Peter Blake, Ritchie Bros. CEO. “New equipment supply and demand continued to become more balanced during the quarter, which is beginning to increase the availability of used equipment in the market. This is a positive development for our business and growth prospects, though increasing equipment supply resulted in generally more variability in used equipment prices at our auctions in the month of September.”

Blake continued: “We expect that increased availability of equipment will continue to stimulate the supply of used equipment to sell at our auctions. This is a promising sign as we move into the fourth quarter and we are confident in our ability to execute and achieve our 2012 plan.”

Read the full Ritchie Bros press release.