Euro Auctions ‘Looks Good’ Down Under

On 7th March, 2012, following months of planning and preparation, Euro Auctions, one of the leading auctioneers of used plant and construction machinery in Europe, drew back the covers on its first sale in Brisbane, Australia, to a much anticipating audience. The sale was held at the new permanent headquarters for Euro Auctions in Pinkenba, Brisbane and numbered over 330 lots of good quality and highly desirable makes and models of machinery, that were much sought after by the local economy.

Local interest in the sale was excellent, bordering on 'far better that anticipated' for a first sale, with high numbers attending the preview days to try and test machines and equipment, followed by registered bidders on the day exceeding expectations. During the overall proceedings a good spectator crowd also assembled, both to participate in the live sale and from an inquisitive stand point for future interest. The general consensus was that all attendees were not disappointed and Euro Auctions was accredited as putting on a fine first sale. With its global reputation at stake, Euro Auctions did not disappoint and buyers and sellers were happy with the proceedings and the prices gained for the sale of goods, which is always that crucial equation – how to keep everyone happy!

Given the current buoyant Australian economy, with the mining and infrastructural sectors demanding more and more access to good quality plant and construction machinery, the planning and execution of this sale was a natural choice for Euro Auctions in satisfying the needs of its global audience. The sale inventory included an excellent selection of wheeled loaders, dozers, backhoes, telehandlers, forklifts and skid steer loaders as well as a good compliment of large excavators and dump trucks. In addition, the market was pleased to be offered a fine compliment of brand new crushing and screening plants attracting strong interest from the mining and recycling industry with most of the machines going directly to end users which was reflected in the strong prices obtained. To add to this, there was also a good inventory of buckets and attachments, always hot ticket items, which attracted keen competitive interest.

With Euro Auctions practised and adept at attracting interest from a global market, the attendance was higher than expected, in addition to this a further 35% of bidders joined the auction 'online'. The general consensus was that the quality of assets for sale were of a very high standard , were well presented and included an unexpectedly high volume of late, low hour machines.

The audience on the day was made up of buyers and dealers from across Australia as well as international buyers that arrived into Brisbane from Europe, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan solely for the sale. In addition, there were a number of potential vendors and buyers in attendance, scoping the quality of the assets for sale and monitoring prices for future Euro Auctions sales in Brisbane. There was also a very large ex pat Irish contingency present, who as the summer sun reached its height during the sale, were slightly noticeable by their rapidly developing new sun tans!

Prices varied across the entire sale, however it was the 12 to 24 month old equipment that returned, as expected, the best prices on the day. Buckets, attachments and auxiliary equipment made excellent prices, as did the small tools such as generators and compressors, which were certainly better than would have been expected in the Northern Hemisphere. With Australia demanding good quality, late, low hour machines, dealers from Singapore, Malaysia and Japan were evident snapping up older equipment for South East Asia proving that there used machinery in Australia has an export market, something that Euro Auctions are particularly keen on exploiting.

Thomas Overton – Country Manager for Euro Auctions, Australia comments: "Australians are a sceptical bunch and would have been looking at this first Euro Auctions sale with some trepidation. But I am proud to announce that with a sales turnover of over AUS$11,000,000, Euro Auctions in its first effort has created significant waves in the Australian marketplace. This sale surprised a lot of buyers, sellers and onlookers. Australian buyers are looking for low hour, nearly new machines, which is what we gave them. Whilst this business is built on trust, I believe we are well on the way to gaining that trust from the Australian market. And with this first sale bring just a few days ago, we are already experiencing intense interest in our next sale in June, such is the demand. We now have a far better idea of what the Australian and South East Asian markets demand. Watch out for the next sale in June."

Euro Auctions identified that over 75% of buyers and sellers at this auction were 'new faces'. Queenslanders made up the majority of the onsite bidders but New South Wales, ACT and Victoria were well represented and there were some high quality equipment purchased also by bidders from Darwin and Perth. The level of online bidding was high, mainly from international and Western Australian participants, however the bidders that attended the sale on the day were the ultimate buyers, such is the power of the physical auction. Since the sale, the Euro Auctions Brisbane office has been inundated with calls from unsuccessful buyers enquiring as to whether all assets were sold, and were there any stocks remaining. As Euro Auctions operate a '100% unreserved policy' all assets were sold on the day to the highest bidder.

Derek Keyes, Managing Director of Euro Auctions World Wide sums up: "Following this first sale it is evident that Euro Auctions is now firmly in business in Australia. We have always experienced high interest from this region, hence the engineering of this and future events. The Euro Auctions brand is well known in Australia due to a huge expat Irish community who play a significant part in the mining and construction industries. We have a level of trust from these communities and we hope in time as our sales continue, our core values are well accepted and appreciated. Our reputation has been built on trust, the ability to present good quality machinery whilst providing excellent service and, finally, going the extra yard for our customers. We are very excited by this first auction and look forward to the next auction later this year in June."

The next Euro Auctions, Brisbane sale is in June. For details contact Thomas Overton, Country Manager at toverton@euroauctions.com
T: 0061 417 080 534; visit www.euroauctions.com or call Euro Auctions in the UK on +44 (0) 2882 898262.