Ritchie Bros. Finishes Another Big Week with a Three-Day Texas Auction

FORT WORTH, Texas--Dec. 1, 20035, 2003--Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, the world's largest industrial auctioneer, wrapped up a busy week with nine unreserved public auctions in four countries. The largest auction of the week was held at the Company's permanent auction site in Fort Worth, Texas, December 9, 10 and 11, and it achieved more than US$30 million in gross auction sales.

"This was a truly global event. We had a buyer from El Salvador at our site purchase an asphalt plant, and another buyer from Saudi Arabia buy a 300-ton crane over the Internet - the international participation was incredible," stated David Hobbs, Regional Manager for Ritchie Bros. Over 55% of the items sold to buyers from outside of Texas, and 16% to buyers from outside the US.

A total of 2,605 people from 48 US states and 29 countries registered to bid on the trucks and equipment in the Texas auction, including a record 651 Internet bidders who participated via the rbauctionBid-Live online bidding service.

Next week, Ritchie Bros. will bring to a close its 2003 auction calendar with six auctions, including a three-day auction in Dubai, UAE and a two-day auction in North East, Maryland. Equipment listings and information on all upcoming sales is available on the Company's web site, www.rbauction.com.

Ritchie Bros. is the world's largest auctioneer of industrial equipment, operating through over 90 locations around the world. The Company sells, through unreserved public auctions, a broad range of industrial equipment including equipment utilized in the construction, transportation, marine, mining, forestry, petroleum and agricultural industries. Ritchie Bros. is a public company; its common shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RBA. It maintains a web site at rbauction.com.

Investors and potential investors should note that this information may not be indicative of the overall financial performance of the Company for this or any period.