“The used equipment market became more balanced during the period, and more equipment owners chose our unreserved auctions to access the global marketplace. We are still seeing uncertainty in some of the jurisdictions in which we operate, and competition for late model used equipment remains intense. This is partly reflected in our auction revenue rate, which was lower in the first half of 2011 than in the prior year.”

Blake says the change is a result of the performance of the company’s at-risk business — as anticipated, it returned to a more sustainable performance relative to 2010.

“At 36 percent of our gross auction proceeds for the six months ended June 30, 2011, our at-risk business increasingly became a tool that allowed us to compete effectively against alternative channels for the sale of late-model equipment, which continues to be scarce.”

Mr. Blake continued: “On July 1, we successfully launched a number of new services designed to make our auctions easier and help our customers bid with more confidence, which we expect will make our auctions more appealing to a broader range of equipment owners.  We also implemented our revised fee structure,” Blake said. “We have a number of auctions under our belt since the launch and have already received a lot of positive feedback from our customers, and we are pleased with our customers’ response to our new services and understanding and acceptance of the fee changes.”