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Auctioneer racks up record results and shares £2million with staff

Adam Pye

Auction House Sales at John Pye have hit over £100m for first time and it is sharing its success with the team in its highest ever pre-Christmas profit share pay-out.

Nottingham headquartered national auction house, John Pye & Sons Ltd, has seen record results from its latest financial year end, racking up significant increases in turnover, auction receipts and new bidder registrations.

For year ending 31st July 2023 the firm saw auction receipts hit £119 million and turnover reach £45 million, up 36% on the previous year. And, with new bidder registrations up 90% year on year it has been a record year all round.

Announcing the annual results, Adam Pye, Managing Director at John Pye & Sons, said: “These are incredible figures for our business. The team has worked so hard on several high-profile projects and achieved more than we ever thought possible during the period. I’m so pleased to report that we have again built upon the success 2022 and am happy to confirm that we’re in the fortunate position of being able to share discretionary bonuses with colleagues in their November pay.”

Last year the family business paid out in excess of £1,300,000. Based on this year’s results, the John Pye Board has agreed to the largest profit share in its history, at £2,000,000.

John Pye has invested heavily in recent years in sustainability, new technology and customer experience. It is undertaking an energy efficiency project to upgrade over 2.3 million square feet of auction premises across the UK and Europe, it has also invested in a wind turbine at its facility at Port Talbot in Wales, with a solar panel project also underway in its recently opened site in Zaragoza, Spain.

By rolling out new auction technology the business has shown an uplift in auction receipts by improving client and end user experience, plus expanding the variety of stock available to customers. The John Pye online auction website was recently ranked the No.1 auction site and within the top 500 websites in the UK* (data from similarweb.com).

Adam Pye adds: “Launching our in-house bespoke auction bidding platform has seen improvements in client reporting as well as customer bidding activity. We are noticing more people turning to auction as a way to find potential bargain, particularly during these trying economic times. Large appliances, household goods and homewares are very popular among new bidders. We have seen a real spike in registrations from savvy shoppers and we now have approaching 1,000,000 registered buyers.

“I’m personally so proud we share our success like this as business, particularly in the hard times certain businesses and individuals find themselves in. Every person in each band is so deserving of this reward, the hard work and commitment the team put in on behalf of John Pye’s really is appreciated.”

In addition to the discretionary Christmas bonus, John Pye also gives exceptional employees the opportunity to win £6,000 each quarter. John Pye’s ‘Employees of the Month’ are eligible for a chance to receive the Don Burton Award, in memory of long serving Don Burton who went above and beyond expectation in his 36 years at the firm.

Last financial year included several high-profile insolvencies with John Pye being appointed by administrators to manage the sale of stock on behalf of homeware and furniture designers MADE.COM, cyclist equipment firm, Moore Large & Co and high street furniture retailer, The Sofa Workshop.

For more details about John Pye & Sons Ltd asset management services and current auction listings go to: www.johnpye.co.uk.

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