Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc. announced that it completed its final auction for 2003 and has achieved gross auction sales for the year of

approximately $1.56 billion, an increase of 13 percent over 2002.

Final numbers and full financial results will be made public on

Feb. 26, 2004 when the company releases its audited financial

information for the year.

In 2003, Ritchie Bros. held 143 industrial auctions in 10 countries throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East,

Australia and Africa. The auctions attracted a record number of more than 181,000 registered bidders, of which more than 55,000 were successful buyers. In 2002, more than 156,000 bidders participated in the company’s auctions and approximately 50,000 were successful buyers.

Ritchie Bros. also worked with a record number of consignors. In 2003, Ritchie Bros. received more than 23,000 consignments to its

auctions, totaling over 166,000 lots, compared to 20,000 consignments and 150,000 lots in 2002. Although the auctions varied in size, the average Ritchie Bros. industrial auction in 2003 attracted more than 1,200 bidders and featured over 1,100 lots consigned by over 160 consignors.

Gross auction sales averaged approximately $11 million per auction.

In addition to these industrial auctions, the company held 27 smaller agricultural auctions.

This also was the first full year for the company’s

online bidding service, bauctionBid-Live, which allows qualified

bidders to participate via the Internet. More than 10,000 Ritchie Bros. customers from more than 80 countries are now

registered to use rbauctionBid-Live; during 2003 they used the service to purchase more than $145 million worth of trucks and equipment.

Ritchie Bros. celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2003. It was June 1963 when, in Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia, Ken, John and Dave

Ritchie held their first unreserved industrial auction to sell a fleet of

equipment for Premier Construction for approximately 650,000 (CAD)

Since that time,Ritchie Bros. has held more 2,400 unreserved auctions and now has more than 90 offices around the world.

Dave Ritchie, chairman and CEO of the company, said, "2003 was a remarkable year for our company, especially when you consider what the company looked like when we got started back in 1963. We have been investing heavily in people, facilities and infrastructure in recent years and that has given us the capacity to grow our business and enhance

the services we provide to our customers..."

Ritchie Bros. has a growing schedule of auctions in 2004 including five days of Florida auction activity in February. More

information on upcoming auctions is available on the company’s Web site, www.rbauction.com.

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