Ordinary Shares of 10p

Ashtead Group plc

20 March 2008

                               ASHTEAD GROUP PLC                               

                            Ordinary Shares of 10p                             

Ashtead Group plc announces it has been advised that on 19th March 2008 Legal &
General Assurance Group plc and Legal & General Investment Management Limited
were directly interested in a total of 24,233,383 shares (or 4.54% of its share
capital).

Enquiries:

Ashtead Group plc 020 7726 9740

Eric Watkins