Sunbelt Receives $20 Million in Settlement from Head & Engquist

December 7, 2005 — Ashtead Group PLC, the international equipment rental group serving the construction, industrial, and homeowner markets, recently announced that Head & Engquist (H&E) Equipment LLC and Ashtead's U.S. subsidiary, Sunbelt Rentals, Inc., have settled their outstanding litigation. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, H&E agreed to pay Sunbelt approximately $20 million by November 28.

The events leading up to the litigation date back to 2000 — the period immediately prior to Sunbelt's acquisition of BET USA, when H&E allegedly executed a plan to develop its aerial work platform rental business by raiding more than 100 staff from the BPS division of BET USA, to open competing rental stores in seven major markets served by BPS.

When received, the judgment will be credited to the group's income statement for the year ending 30 April 2006 as an exceptional item, and the monies received will be applied to reduce borrowings under the company's asset based senior credit facility.