Holding(s) in Company

Ashtead Group PLC
30 July 2004

Ashtead Group plc

30 July 2004


                               ASHTEAD GROUP PLC

                             Ordinary Shares of 10p

Ashtead Group plc announces it has been advised by The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
(GS Inc), that as at 28 July 2004 it was interested in a total of 15,024,373 
(or 4.6%) of its shares comprising:

a)   an interest in 2,807,487 shares arising from the interest held by
     Goldman Sachs & Co., a direct subsidiary of GS Inc, acting as custodian. 
     These shares are, or will be, registered in the name of Goldman Sachs 
     Securities (Nominees) Limited ('GSSN').

b)   an interest in 12,216,886 shares arising from a beneficial interest held
     by Goldman Sachs International, a direct subsidiary of GS Inc. These shares 
     are, or will be registered at CREST in account CREPTEMP.


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange