Cancellation of Treasury Shares

Ashtead Group plc

27 February 2009

Ashtead Group plc ("the Company") announces that it has today cancelled
8,247,172 shares held in Treasury.

Following this cancellation, the Company continues to hold 50,000,000 shares in
Treasury and has 503,325,554 shares in issue (excluding the shares held in
Treasury).

This number (503,325,554) represents the total voting rights in the Company and
may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which
they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a
change to their interest in, Ashtead Group plc under the FSA's Disclosure and
Transparency Rules.

Enquiries:

Ashtead Group plc 020 7726 9740

Eric Watkins