Director/PDMR Shareholding

Ashtead Group plc

31 July 2007

                               ASHTEAD GROUP PLC                               

Ashtead Group plc, the international equipment rental group serving the
construction, industrial and homeowner markets, announces that on 30 July 2007,
it made the annual awards for 2007 to 68 senior executives under its
Performance Share Plan ('PSP').

Awards under the PSP comprise the conditional right to receive ordinary shares
of 10p each which normally vest on the third anniversary of grant subject to
continued employment and the meeting of challenging earnings per share targets
established by the Remuneration Committee. The Company intends to utilise
existing shares held by the Company's Employee Share Ownership Trust to fulfil
any obligation to employees which may arise in July 2010.

Included within the awards made are awards as follows to the executive
directors of Ashtead Group plc:

                                    Number of Shares       Percentage of Issued
Director                            covered by Award              Share Capital
--------                            ----------------              -------------
                                                                               
Geoff Drabble                                320,896                      0.06%
Sat Dhaiwal                                  116,418                      0.02%
Cliff Miller                                 192,243                      0.03%
Ian Robson                                   235,075                      0.04%

The exercise price for the above awards is £1 for all the ordinary shares to
which the award relates. No consideration was paid for the grant of any of
these awards.

Contacts:

Chris Cole        Non-executive Chairman     020 7299 5562
Geoff Drabble     Chief executive            020 7726 9700