Euro Auctions, the UK's leading auctioneers of used industrial plant, construction machinery and agricultural equipment, in late November conducted another fantastic three-day auction in Leeds; where 3750 lots realised a total hammer price of over £24m.

During 2016 euro Auctions delivered six main auction events at its expanding Leeds site where over 25,000 lots went under the hammer realising a total price for the year in excess of £160m. Add to this a number of special one‑day sales also conducted during the year for the likes of A-Plant and UK Coal and the country total is knocking on the door of £175m.

"It has been a fantastic year for Euro Auctions in Britain and 2017 is already shaping up to get off to a cracking start," stated Jonnie Keys, Operations Manager for Euro Auctions' global activities. "Despite global trends and market difficulties of recent years, we have seen real growth in the used plant and equipment sector. Our recent sale in Atlanta, for example, saw a 25% increase to US$2.720m in the total hammer prices achieved but more importantly the total number of registered bidders more than doubled on the previous sale held just a few months earlier. In 2016 we will have delivered over 30 separate auctions around the globe so when you factor in the really successful events we've held in Dromore, those at our two sites in Europe plus those in Australia and the USA; we’ve sold over 70,000 individual pieces of plant and equipment in the last year alone – and we've some really exciting and ambitious plans for the coming year."

All the activity and sales figures are impressive and on the increase wherever you look. This Leeds sale, for example, saw vendors consign stock, up 10% from the October auction and a massive jump up over 70% for the sale just 12-months ago. Also, in addition to the high contingent of UK bidders almost every country from across Europe and the Middle East were represented at this sale including over 50 registered bidders from Poland, Spain and Romania attracting a couple of dozen each and double figures from each France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands. Bidders from as far afield as the USA, Canada, Australia and South Africa also participated.

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The popularity of internet bidding continues to grow with over 40% (£10m in financial terms) of all winning bids at this Leeds sale being placed electronically. Go back just a year and internet bidding accounted for around 30% of all sales while just five years only around 5% of bids were placed via the internet.

"Demand for used construction and agricultural equipment is exceptionally high at the moment and good quality, well presented plant always commands a premium," concluded Jonnie Keys. "We recorded an excellent turnout of British buyers, as expected, for this auction and the vast majority of equipment is both competitively priced for UK customers and in much demand. The particularly strong Euro and Dollar at the moment also makes everything we sell that little bit more attractive and affordable for overseas customers. We are increasingly shipping consignments around the globe to the markets where they are most in demand and machinery buyers and sellers also both appreciate what Euro Auctions delivers in terms of the quality used plant we sell and the dependable and authoritative service we provide."

The stand out lot of the auction was a 2011 Komatsu PC350LC-8 excavator loaded with features that had only done 794 hours, so barely run in, which caught the eye of a number of international bidders online and those present at the event and ultimately achieved a hammer price of £56,000. Other noteworthy new / extremely low hours lots included a Case CX50BS2 mini digger with rubber track that went for £26,500 and a fully loaded JLG 4017RS telehandler that went for £47,000, both with just 'delivery mileage'. A number of agricultural tractors were also included in this auction including a fair number of New Holland models and a 2013 4WD John Deere 6430 with A/c that had done under 7700 hours went for just £24,000.

Euro Auctions' 26 acre Leeds auction site was expanded earlier in the year with the acquisition of an adjacent 80 acre plot of land. All the necessary infrastructure including the administrative offices, visitor parking, ancillary buildings and the main auction stages were already in place, but as increasing volumes of used equipment is being assigned, 40 acres of the adjacent plot was immediately cleared and used to better display the equipment being auctioned. At this Euro Auctions sale the hammer went down on a piece of equipment at the rate of one lot per minute in the main auction stage with two additional rings for smaller equipment being required.

Euro Auctions is already planning an expanded schedule of Auctions for 2017 with the first being the hugely popular three-day sale in Leeds between 25-27 January. Others include: Dormagen in Germany on 8-9 February; in Dromore in Northern Ireland on 17-18 February; one-day sales at Brisbane, Australia on 23 February and Atlanta USA on 23 March; followed by Zaragoza in Spain on 15 March. All dates are provisional and subject to change.

Further details and catalogues for each of these forthcoming events are available on the Euro Auctions website at www.euroauctions.com and separate Bidder Numbers are required to bid on any Lot at each event.