Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, the world's largest industrial auctioneer, last week announced the conclusion of its 2007 auction calendar with a preliminary estimate of U.S. $3.18 billion in gross auction proceeds for the year, a 17-percent increase compared to last year's result. The company plans to release its audited financial statements for the year on Feb. 21, 2008.

In 2007, Ritchie Bros. conducted 183 unreserved industrial auctions in 13 countries throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. The company also held 177 unreserved agricultural auctions during the year. There were a record 254,000 bidder registrations at Ritchie Bros.' unreserved industrial auctions in 2007, of which approximately 80,000 were successful buyers. In 2006, the company recorded more than 241,000 bidder registrations, of which over 74,000 were buyers.

During the past year, Ritchie Bros. worked with a record number of truck and equipment sellers, handling nearly 35,000 consignments, which totaled more than 261,000 lots sold in the year. In 2006, Ritchie Bros. handled more than 32,000 consignments and over 240,000 lots.

The average Ritchie Bros. industrial auction for 2007 featured more than 1,400 lots consigned by 190 consignors, and attracted more than 1,300 bidders. The average gross auction proceeds per industrial auction for the year was approximately $16.7 million.

The company's rbauctionBid-Live Internet bidding service also set records in 2007. Close to 12,800 customers from 79 countries purchased more than $600 million worth of trucks, equipment and real estate using rbauctionBid-Live in 2007. This is an increase of more than 35 percent over last year's online gross auction proceeds. More than 77,000 customers from 170 countries have now registered and received approval to use rbauctionBid-Live to date. Internet bidders represented, on average, approximately 27 percent of the total registered bidders at Ritchie Bros. industrial auctions in 2007.

A number of Ritchie Bros. permanent auction sites achieved gross auction proceeds records in 2007, including Orlando, Fla., which conducted on February 20-24, the largest auction ever held by the company in close to 50 years of business. The Orlando auction generated gross auction proceeds of more than $172 million.

Ritchie Bros. also held a Canadian record-breaking auction this year. On May 30 - June 1, the company's Edmonton unreserved auction generated gross auction proceeds in excess of CA$61 million (about U.S. $60.9 million). The company held its largest Australian auction in Brisbane on September 18, with gross auction proceeds of more than AUS $36 million (about U.S. $30.9 million). And records were also broken in Singapore and in Italy.

In the United States, regional gross auction proceeds records were broken this year at the company's auction sites in Orlando, Fla.; Atlanta; Buxton, N.D.; Columbus, Ohio; Denver; Fort Worth, Texas; Hartford, Conn.; Kansas City, Mo.; Nashville, Tenn.; North East, Md.; and Sacramento, Calif.

And in Canada, regional gross auction proceeds records were broken at the company's permanent auction sites in: Edmonton, Alberta; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; and Montreal.

“We had a tremendous growth year, adding many new employees in locations around the world while continuing to improve our processes and expand our global network of auction sites,” said Peter Blake, CEO of Ritchie Bros.

The company also announced certain changes to its fee and commission structure effective Jan.1, 2008. Certain of the company's existing fees, including the minimum commission rate applicable to low value lots and the consignor document administration fee, will be increased slightly to reflect increased costs of conducting auctions. The cumulative effect of these changes will likely have an impact on the company's auction revenue rate.

The Ritchie Bros. 2007 auction calendar begins in Jackson, Miss., at the end of January. There are more than 20 unreserved industrial auctions and over 50 unreserved agricultural auctions already listed for 2008. Equipment listings and auction information are available on the company's website, www.rbauction.com.