Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers surpasses $1 billion in annual online equipment sales

Deere & Co. declares quarterly dividend $.41 a share

SITECH Technology dealer established in Sweden

Tina Grady Barbaccia

In April 2010, Ritchie Bros. introduced online bidding in an additional six languages. In July 2011, Ritchie Bros. introduced detailed equipment information in 21 languages on rbauction.com, giving customers the ability to do a virtual equipment inspection before bidding online or on-site. Ritchie Bros. has sold 312,600 items to online bidders since 2002, including a US$1.6 million crane in Boston on June 6, 2009.

See a behind-the-scenes look at the moment when Ritchie Bros. achieved the US$1 billion online sales record, including comments from Ritchie Bros. CEO Peter Blake at http://youtu.be/PDx4Ee5MIJs.

Facts about online bidding at Ritchie Bros. (unaudited)

Online bidding introduced: 2002
Amount sold online (2002 – 2011): US$5+ billion
Amount sold online (2011 year-to-date): US$1+ billion

Auction statistics (2011 year-to-date)

Auctions conducted: 307 in 14 countries
Number of lots sold: 268,000+
Number of lots sold online: 71,000
Bidder registrations – total: 393,000+
Bidder registrations – online: 190,000 (48 %)

Amount of equipment sold (2002 – 2011 YTD)

Year	Gross auction proceeds from equipment sold (total) — USD	Gross auction proceeds from equipment sold (online) — USD
2002	$1.38 billion	$82 million
2003	$1.56 billion	$151+ million
2004	$1.80 billion	$202+ million
2005	$2.10 billion	$285+ million
2006	$2.73 billion	$450+ million
2007	$3.18 billion	$605+ million
2008	$3.57 billion	$709 million
2009	$3.49 billion	$830+ million
2010	$3.28 billion	$873 million
2011	Not reported	Year-to-date: $1+ billion

Ritchie Bros. will conduct 21 more unreserved public equipment auctions before the end of 2011. Annual unaudited gross auction proceeds will be issued on December 21, 2011, following the final auctions. Details about all upcoming Ritchie Bros. auctions can be found at www.rbauction.com.