Renewal of Senior Debt Facility and Bond Redemp...

ASHTEAD GROUP PLC ANNOUNCES RENEWAL OF ITS SENIOR BANK DEBT FACILITY AND    
   REDEMPTION OF ASHTEAD HOLDINGS PLC'S $250M SENIOR SECURED NOTES, DUE 2015   

Ashtead Group plc ("Ashtead") announces that it has renewed the Group's asset
based senior secured loan facility in the amount of $1.4 billion and extended
the facility's maturity from November 2013 to March 2016. The renewed facility
carries pricing of LIBOR plus 200bp to 250bp depending on leverage, 1% lower
than the pricing applicable to the existing $1.3bn of commitments that were to
mature in November 2013. Initial drawings under the renewed facility are at
LIBOR plus 225bp.

Ashtead also announces that its subsidiary, Ashtead Holdings PLC, has today
notified the trustee for its $250 million 8.625% senior secured notes, due
August 2015 ("the 2015 Notes") that it will redeem in full the outstanding 2015
Notes on 28 April 2011.

Over the 2008 to 2010 period the Group reduced outstanding debt by around
one-third, principally from organic cash generation. Given this reduction and
following the renewal of the senior credit facility until 2016, the Board has
decided to redeem the 2015 Notes early in order to rebalance the mix of
Ashtead's senior and junior debt. This reflects the Board's expectation that
the Group has now reached a size and scale where cash generation can largely
fund organic growth and hence that net debt can remain broadly unchanged over
the next phase of the cycle¹.

As a consequence of these steps, Ashtead expects to record an exceptional
financing cost of approximately £22 million in the fourth quarter of the
current fiscal year. This comprises the early redemption call premium of
approximately £7 million payable in cash on 28 April 2011 to holders of the
2015 Notes being redeemed and approximately £15 million for the non-cash write
off of the remaining unamortised balance of deferred debt raising costs on the
existing senior credit facility and 2015 Notes.

Following the redemption, the Group's total debt at 30 April 2011 is expected
to comprise around $750 million drawn under the senior loan facility together
with the 9% $550 million 2016 senior secured note issue and around $5 million
of finance lease debt, a total of $1.3 billion or around £800 million. Excess
availability on the asset based facility is estimated to be around $475 million
once the redemption of the $250 million 2015 Notes has been concluded. The
renewed senior credit facility and all of the Group's debt remain effectively
free from any financial covenants whilst excess availability exceeds 12% of
facility size or $168 million.

Geoff Drabble, chief executive, commented:

"We continue to demonstrate that our strong financial structure is appropriate
to all phases of the economic cycle. We are pleased with the good support we
received from our senior lenders in agreeing to the renewed senior loan
facility with total commitments received of $1.9 billion, a 37%
oversubscription. The resulting five year average maturity across all our debt
and our still strong availability provide us with the balance sheet flexibility
and strength required to enable our businesses to succeed and prosper in the
years ahead."

Contacts:

Geoff Drabble       Chief executive        )                                   
                                                                               
Ian Robson          Finance director       )  020 7726 9700                    
                                                                               
Brian Hudspith      Maitland                  020 7379 5151                    

Notes

 1. The Board's expectation that net debt can remain broadly unchanged over the
    next phase of the cycle assumes the current $1.60 dollar sterling exchange
    rate, current capital expenditure plans and ignores the impact of possible
    larger scale M&A.
   
 2. At 31 January 2011, drawn debt under the asset based senior loan facility
    was $485 million. At the same date Ashtead also had $800 million
    outstanding in respect of its 2015 and 2016 senior secured notes and $5
    million of finance lease debt.
   
 3. There are no changes in the renewed senior loan facility to the financial
    covenants which apply if excess availability falls below 12% of the
    facility size or $168 million which are (i) funded debt to EBITDA before
    exceptionals must not exceed 4.0 times and (ii) the fixed charge coverage
    ratio must exceed 1.1 times. Both financial covenants are measured at a
    fixed exchange rate to protect against the risk of currency fluctuations
    impacting covenanted performance.
   
 4. The other material terms and conditions of the renewed facility are also
    broadly unchanged except that lenders have extended their conditional
    pre-approval of acquisitions to encompass all rental businesses not just
    those in the US, UK and Canada.
   
 5. The principal lenders under the renewed senior credit facility are Bank of
    America, Wells Fargo, GE Capital, Deutsche Bank, Citi, JPMorgan, LloydsTSB,
    Barclays, RBS, UBS, and HSBC
   
 6. The redemption of the 2015 Notes will be effected in accordance with the
    terms of the indenture governing the 2015 Notes at the required redemption
    price of 104.313% of the principal amount of the 2015 Notes plus accrued
    and unpaid interest. A separate formal Notice of Redemption is being
    released by Ashtead Holdings PLC today.