Euro Auctions celebrates 20 successful years in operation in 2018, during which it has grown to become a global leader for the resale of used and as new industrial plant, construction machinery, and agricultural equipment.
The first one-day URO sale was held in Dromore, Northern Ireland, on the same site that has is now the global Euro Auctions headquarters. That day, a total of 371 vehicle and equipment lots went under the hammer, achieving a total sales figure of approaching £1mn.
The ensuing years have seen massive expansion in terms of locations and staffing, creating a globally recognised brand that continues to go from strength to strength.
Derek Keys, founder of the business, said: When we embarked on this adventure, we never envisaged the impact wed have on the global equipment market. Weve so far been instrumental in selling equipment worth many billions in value with the single biggest items to go under our hammer being a couple of 220 tonne all terrain Tadano cranes previously operated by Hewden Stuart that each went for £725,000 in Spring 2017 as part of the epic one-day £32mn disposal sale. Weve also sold numerous lots at under £1,000 each so there is always something for everybody at each of our auctions.
Today, Euro Auctions hosts around 60 key auctions a year and operates from 10 sales sites in seven countries on four continents around the globe. Collectively they now auction over 75,000 lots each year, consigned by more than 6,000 regular vendors. Each auction also has massive appeal with sustained corporate marketing initiatives regularly reaching a global audience of over 150,000 potential buyers; one in five of whom actively register as bidders, with over 10,000 actually taking delivery of one or more consignments. This now results in a global turnover annually in excess of £400mn.
Having started with sales activities in Dromore, it took only a couple of years for Euro Auctions to expand into England and in early 2000 it held its first sale in Wetherby, featuring a selection of Volvo dump trucks that came in from the Far East. A couple of years later a new dedicated site near Selby Leeds was acquired which attracted over 500 buyers to its first sale, providing them with the opportunity to acquire 1,139 lots from 83 consigners, which achieved a hammer total of £7mn. This site has steadily expanded both in terms of volumes and physical size and today regularly delivers auctions well in excess of £30mn every six-weeks / couple of months.
Brisbane Australia was the next step in the expansion process with the first sale taking place in March 2012 opening up the flourishing Asia Pacific rim and providing a conduit for moving quality used equipment completely around the planet. The USA, a market in which the company had had aspirations to enter for many years, was the next major to become the focus of Euro Auctions expansion plans and a suitable launch site was acquired near Atlanta, Georgia and hosted its first successful sale.
Jonnie Keys, operations manager at Euro Auctions, said: Our staff remain our biggest asset and as such we ensure they have all the tools they need to do their jobs properly and provide each of our customers, both sellers and buyers, with the best service possible. Weve seen growth and increased interest over the past 12-months across all businesses around the globe with brisk trading, particularly online, being recorded, plus year?on?year growth at our flagship Leeds, UK site that saw a record breaking £42mn hammer achieved earlier in April.
Further afield our new facilities in both Dubai and Hong Kong are becoming well established in our annual auction calendar and were increasingly being retained to manage flagship off-site disposal sales for individual equipment owners. For anyone who has never attended one of our auctions we would encourage them to come along and see for themselves the massive quantity and the quality of equipment we offer and experience first had the unrivalled levels of service and support we deliver.