Auctioneers Figures

The difficulties in securing high-value works for sale lay behind a $54.5m loss posted in Sotheby’s latest set of results.

Sotheby’s latest results showed the firm has increased profits despite a significant fall in auction sales. Their share price jumped by over 15% after the figures were released earlier today.

Christie’s has experienced a sharp fall in overall sales. In figures released earlier today the company reported sales of £2.1bn for the first half of 2016, which compared to £2.9bn for the same period in 2015.

Following the release of Sotheby’s disappointing 2016 first-quarter earnings, the financial press was awash with speculation of a new investor.

The shake-up at Sotheby’s continued last week as more key senior employees – including Henry Wyndham – depart the company.

Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s saw sales fall in 2015, a sign that the art market may be slowing.

Leading auctioneers in Ireland and Scotland enjoyed a solid, if unspectacular, year of sales in 2015.

Despite some welcome exceptions, 2015 proved a unspectacular year for Britain and Ireland’s regional fine art auctioneers with one in three salerooms experiencing a fall in sales.

There was no slowing down in the Contemporary art market as the latest sales in New York posted a record for any auction series.

Sotheby’s auction and related revenues were down 12% at $105m year on year for the first quarter of 2012.

Confirming the time-honoured ability of auctioneers to attract vendors in a recession, the UK’s top tier of regional salerooms enjoyed a largely positive 2011.

INCREASING revenues at Sotheby’s have given a further indication of the recovering art market. The company’s latest set of results shows a major turnaround for the first nine months of 2010, going from a loss of around $80m for the equivalent period in 2009 to a profit of $64.7m.

CHRISTIE’S have announced worldwide sales of £1.7bn ($2.57m) for the first half of 2010 – 46 per cent up on the same period for 2009.

SOTHEBY’S first quarter results have been boosted by February’s healthy Contemporary and Impressionist sales in London, showing the company on a decisive upward curve after last year’s slump in revenues.

RUNNING a tighter ship and targeting commissions to bring a better yield have helped Sotheby’s achieve the second biggest quarterly profits in the company’s history.

BEIJING-based auction house China Guardian has published record sales results for 2009.

CHRISTIE’S have announced a 24 per cent year-on-year fall in sales for 2009 to £2.1bn.

THE latest series of contemporary art auctions in New York showed how much the market has fallen since its peak. With sale totals down well over 50 per cent from last year’s autumn series held at the height of the boom, the extent of the damage caused by the current economic distress and diminished confidence amongst buyers was manifest. The question now is will prices stabilise or fall further?

GUARANTEES slashed, costs to follow. That’s the message from Sotheby’s as they announce third quarter losses of $46.2m. And consignors will have to be more realistic about the deals they can secure and their expectations at auction in future.