Concurrently with the release today of its first quarter results for the three months ended 31 July 2005 which are the first results to be released under International Accounting Standards (“IAS”), Ashtead is also making available details of the accounting policies it intends applying in its IAS accounts for the year ending 30 April 2006 together with details of:

• a summary of the main differences applicable to Ashtead between UK GAAP and IAS
• the restated income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement under IAS for the year ended 30 April 2005
• full reconciliations of the IAS financial information to the comparable information previously published under UK GAAP. These reconciliations cover income statement information for the quarter ended 31 July 2004, the six months ended 31 October 2004, the nine months ended 31 January 2005 and the year ended 30 April 2005 and balance sheet information as at 31 July 2004, 31 October 2004, 31 January 2005 and 30 April 2005 and the opening balance sheet at 30 April 2004.

The restated financial information under IAS is available for download on its website at www.ashtead-group.com.

The impact of the move to IAS is unchanged from that published in the preliminary results release for the year ended 30 April 2005 issued on 7 July 2005 and also included in the Operating and Financial Review on pages 47 and 48 of the annual report and accounts for that year which has been mailed to shareholders and filed with the Registrar of Companies. In summary the effects of the change are as follows: