As the spring auction season ramps up, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (RB) just released its “Market Trends Report for Used Equipment and Trucks” for the first quarter of 2024 — and the key takeaway seems to be supply is up and prices are down.

The report shows it’s become a buyer’s market for those two machine types — and in general, those softening prices are also reflected across most of the construction and transportation equipment categories in the first quarter of 2024.

“The majority of equipment sectors in Canada are showing deflation,” the report reads.

Skid steers lead the downward slide, with a 10 per cent overall decline in selling prices. The volume being offered for sale has roughly doubled during the first quarter of this year, compared to Jan. 1 to March 31 in 2023. The median age of the machines has declined, from an average of 10 years down to nine. So, buyers are seeing more and newer machines sell for less.

That said, those newer machines have a little more experience under their belts. The median number of hours on their clocks has actually risen by almost 500. Caterpillar, Bobcat and Case respectively made up the top three brands sold by RB.

Trucking

If the farm needs another used truck tractor to pull a hopper trailer, it’s good news for buyers there too. “In our estimation, for the three months ending March 31, 2024, prices for truck tractors decreased four per cent compared to the same time frame last year,” the report reads.

That four per cent is small potatoes compared to the 22 per cent decline in sale prices for truck tractors south of the border — likely due, at least in part, to a softened market for freight hauling in the U.S.

Just as with skid steers, the number of truck tractors RB sold in Canada during the first quarter of this year is nearly double the number for the same time in 2023. But the median number of hours on their clocks has declined, from over 5,000 to well under that mark. The median hammer price has fallen below $50,000.

As for which brands most often found the willing buyer, Freightliner, International and Kenworth, in that order, took the top three spots.

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The latest cash-and-stock offer at $44.40 per share, will allow Ritchie to tap into a growing market for heavy machinery and equipment, salvaged cars, trucks and motorcycles, as well as auto parts (all figures US$).

Chicago-based IAA’s online auction systems specialize in the marketing of “total-loss, damaged and low-value” vehicles and equipment, while Burnaby, B.C.-based Ritchie Bros. operates online and live auction markets in several sectors, including farm equipment, for which it has five live-auction facilities in Western Canada and seven in the U.S.

IAA shares rose 4.9 per cent in morning trade, while Ritchie Bros.’ Toronto-listed shares were up three per cent.

The improved offer comes at a time when many companies are reducing costs and initiating layoffs in face of a potential economic downturn.

Shareholders of both the companies had initially pushed back the deal, set to be Ritchie’s biggest, and raised concerns about the poor structuring of the combination.

However, on Monday, IAA’s largest shareholder Ancora supported the revised bid. The activist investor had earlier questioned the sales process and the absence of a go-shop period.

Ritchie also said that Starboard Value chief Jeffrey Smith will join its board, with the activist investment firm making a $500 million investment.

“We look forward to benefiting from Jeff’s expertise and working together as we complete this transaction,” said Ann Fandozzi, CEO of Ritchie Bros.

Under the revised offer, IAA stockholders would receive $12.80 in cash, up from $10 earlier, and 0.5252 Ritchie Bros. share for each IAA share, down from 0.5804.

Ritchie made the initial offer in November, valuing the company at about $7.3 billion, including debt. That announcement triggered a large-scale selloff by investors, sending Ritchie’s stock down 18 per cent.

The deal will be put to vote for shareholders of both companies on March 14. The shares underlying Starboard’s investment will not be voted at the meeting, Ritchie said.

— Reporting for Reuters by Priyamvada C and Aishwarya Nair in Bangalore.

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Vancouver-based Ritchie Bros. announced Tuesday it has bought Kramer Auctions of North Battleford, Sask. for an undisclosed sum.

The company, set up in 1949 by the late Eiling Kramer, today runs about 75 on-farm dispersal auctions, four on-site consignment equipment auctions and eight bison auctions per year across the three Prairie provinces.

Kramer moved over $60 million of agricultural equipment, real estate and other assets in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, Ritchie Bros. said.

Kramer also operates as a licensed real estate brokerage and conducts auctions for farmland as well as residential, commercial, recreational and lake properties.

Company president/general manager Neil Kramer and auctioneers/sales representatives Kim Kramer and Brendan Kramer have all joined Ritchie Bros. and will continue overseeing auctions on the Prairies under the Kramer Auctions brand, Ritchie Bros. said.

Ritchie said it plans to keep the Kramer brand “for the immediate future,” given the “deep customer relationships and significant brand equity associated with the Kramer Auctions name.”

Kramer Auctions’ lone permanent auction site at North Battleford will continue to be owned by the Kramer family and leased to Ritchie Bros. “for the foreseeable future.”

Kramer’s full-time employees have also been offered continued employment with Kramer Auctions through Ritchie Bros., the company added.

The deal includes Kramer’s agricultural and real estate auction services, but won’t include Kramer Trailer Sales, which remains with the Kramer family. The trailer dealership sells Southland, Royal, Norbert’s, Duralite, Snopro, Cargopro and Sure-Trac trailers at its lot east of North Battleford.

Kramer’s auction setup co-ordinator Michael Higgs, who along with Brendan Kramer operated the Kramer Trailer Sales business, will also join Ritchie Bros.

“We’ve respected the growth and interest Ritchie Bros. has developed in the agricultural space over the last 15 years,” Neil Kramer said in Tuesday’s release.

Kramer’s principals, he said, “believe we can offer our customers even greater value by blending our expertise of seamless farm auctions with Ritchie Bros.’ leading technology and reach of international bidders.”

Ritchie Bros. started at Kelowna, B.C. in 1958 and now bills itself as the world’s largest industrial auctioneer and one of the world’s biggest sellers of used equipment for the farm, construction, transportation and resource sectors, among others.

The company expanded its reach into the U.S. in 1970 and set up its first permanent auction site at Edmonton in 1976. It became an NYSE-traded company in 1998 and listed on the TSX in 2004.

Its expansions by acquisition so far this year have included online equipment marketplaces Mascus and IronPlanet, U.S. auction firm Petrowsky Auctioneers and a minority stake in equipment search engine Machinio.

Ritchie Bros. today has operations in 19 countries, including 44 auction sites, and moved about US$4.25 billion in assets, including about US$1.9 billion in online sales, in 2015.

Of the Kramer deal, Ritchie Bros. CEO Ravi Saligram said the company is “truly excited about the value we can create by combining our expertise and global reach for customers in farming communities across Canada.” — AGCanada.com Network

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Burnaby, B.C.-based Ritchie Bros. announced Friday it has bought 100 per cent of the equity in Amsterdam-based Mascus for 24 million euros (C$36.8 million), plus up to 3.4 million euros (C$5.2 million) more, pending certain performance targets being met over the next three years.

Mascus, whose Canadian operations are based in Toronto, today offers over 360,000 pieces of used heavy machinery and trucks for sale and logs about 3.2 million monthly website visits across 58 countries, the two companies said in a release.

The online service, which launched in 2001 and now operates through 36 offices on five continents in 42 different languages, offers subscriptions to equipment dealers, brokers, exporters and equipment manufacturers to list equipment for sale.

It also offers online advertising and other services to equipment dealerships and manufacturers across the farm, construction, transport, handling, forestry and grounds-care sectors.

Ritchie CEO Ravi Saligram described the deal as “another step in Ritchie Bros.’ strategy as the world’s leading multichannel equipment disposition and asset management company, as it adds an important new channel.”

Bringing Mascus under the Ritchie umbrella “will enhance the end-to-end services that we can provide to OEMs, dealers and private equipment sellers,” he said, and provide Ritchie with another “customer touchpoint.”

Mascus will keep its current branding and management, but the company’s CEO, Tim Scholte, said the deal will allow it to use Ritchie’s used equipment sales expertise “to further build our customer relationships and platform.”

Ritchie, which started life as a family-run auction service in Kelowna in 1958, and set up its first permanent auction site in Edmonton in 1976, now runs 44 auction sites in 19 countries, hosting live unreserved public auctions with both on-site and online bidding.

Ritchie today also operates a corporate asset management program and offers services including the EquipmentOne online marketplace, which it launched in 2014, and equipment financing for customers through its Ritchie Bros. Financial Services arm. — AGCanada.com Network

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This time we look at two of New Holland’s late model four-wheel drive tractors, the T9060 and slightly lower horsepower T9040.

We surveyed auction prices for only those tractors sold on the prairie throughout 2014. And to try and put some perspective on where selling prices for these machines are going, we also checked back at how the same models fared at auction sales in 2013.

The Ritchie Bros. information shows they sold four T9060 tractors in 2014 (table 1) and five in 2013 (table 2), so the sample sizes aren’t large, but we can still get a sense from those sale results what demand is like for these machines. Average selling price for this model declined by roughly $6,000 between 2013 and 2014, only a relatively small percentage.

There were also five T9040 tractors sold last year at an average price of $169,200 (table 3). In 2013, Ritchie Bros only reports selling one machine, a 2010 model with 554 engine hours for $242,500.

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Once again, we used Ritchie Bros. posted online auction results as our information source. Those data show the company auctioned off eight 9370 and three 4494 tractors across the prairie in 2014, enough to give us a fair idea of what you should expect to pay for one of these machines.

First, the 9370. According to the posted descriptions, those tractors equipped with a standard transmission seemed to net better selling prices than powershift models. The tractors going under the hammer this year had between 3,401 and 7,492 engine hours. Most sold in the $55,000 to $66,000 range, with one exceptional tractor hitting an impressive $104,000.

Second, the 4494. Three of these tractors were sold, two 1985 models and one 1986. The first two netted $17,000 and $17,500. Again, one exceptional tractor stood out, raking in more than double those prices at $42,000. All three were powershift models with between 6,485 and 8,443 engine hours.

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