Holding(s) in Company

Ashtead Group plc

22 January 2009

                               ASHTEAD GROUP PLC                               

                            Ordinary Shares of 10p                             

Ashtead Group plc announces it has been advised that on 21 January 2009 Aviva
plc and its subsidiaries were directly interested in a total of 25,210,043
shares (or 5.01% of its share capital) and indirectly interested in 8,767,315
shares (or 1.74% of its share capital).

Enquiries:

Ashtead Group plc 020 7726 9740

Eric Watkins