ashtead group plc
annual report and accounts 
for the year ended 30 april 2005
ashtead group plc annual report and accounts for the year ended 30 april 2005
wwwashteadgroupcom
ashtead group plc
king’s court
4151 kingston road
leatherhead
surrey kt22 7ap
tel 44 0 1372 362300 a market leader
in equipment
rental serving 
the us and uk
construction
industrial and
homeowner
markets
01 financial highlights
02 at a glance
04 chairman’s report
05 annual awards
06 chief executive’s review
10 sunbelt
12 aplant
14 ashtead technology
16 directors
18 senior management and advisers
19 directors’ report
21 corporate governance report
26 directors’ remuneration report
34 operating and financial review
49 independent auditors’ report
50 consolidated profit and loss account
51 consolidated statement of total recognised gains and losses
51 summary of movements in shareholders’ funds
52 consolidated balance sheet
53 consolidated cash flow statement
54 company balance sheet
55 notes to the consolidated financial statements
76 ten year history
77 our locations
80 key financial dates
ashtead group plc annual report and accounts for the year ended 30 april 2005 ashtead group plc annual report and accounts for the year ended 30 april 2005 
“the board 
anticipates 
reporting further 
progress in the
coming year” turnover
✝
£million
pretax proﬁt
✝
£million
cash tax earnings
per share
✝

Summary:
 ashtead group plc annual report and accounts for the year ended 30 april 2005 
04
in concluding last year’s report i noted 
that your board intended to focus on 
the group’s operational and ﬁnancial
management in the coming year in order 
to improve market share operating margins
and return on capital employed particularly
in the uk and that we looked forward 
with guarded optimism during the year
under review we have advanced our twin
objectives of improving trading performance
while at the same time strengthening our
ﬁnancial position
the management team should be
congratulated on the result which saw last
year’s pretax loss of £33 1m turned into a
pretax proﬁt of £164m this year with no
further exceptional items before goodwill
amortisation the pretax proﬁt was £253m
2004  £76m before both goodwill
amortisation and exceptional items 
return on operating capital employed rose
to 126 2004 – 7 4 all three of our
businesses contributed to this performance
the group’s ﬁnancial structure is also 
now much stronger following april 2004’s
£120m 12 senior secured notes issue
which at the time was key to the
subsequent recovery in november 2004 
we successfully introduced a 675m ﬁrst
priority secured asset based senior bank
debt facility most recently we announced
with our preliminary results a placing and
open offer of ordinary shares to raise
approximately £66m net of issue costs
which together with concurrent issue of
250m of new senior notes will provide 
the ﬁnance to redeem early the outstanding
525 convertible loan note due 2008 and
to reduce interest costs by exercising the
option to redeem early the maximum 35
of the £120m 12 senior secured notes 
when ﬁnalised these steps will complete
the renewal of all the group’s debt facilities
and provide a longterm platform for the
group’s future development the board also
expects the reorganisation will enable it to
propose to shareholders the resumption 
of dividends in respect of the year ending 
30 april 2006
since my report last year we have
welcomed two new nonexecutive directors
to the board gary iceton joined last august
and brought a wealth of experience in sales
and marketing which proved very helpful 
as we renewed our focus on growth 
geoff drabble joined us at the end of 
april and already his active current
executive experience at laird group
especially in running businesses in the us
has proved of assistance gary has joined
the audit committee and geoff the
remuneration committee ensuring that
both committees now again comprise 
three independent nonexecutive directors
philip lovegrove who has served on the
board since the company’s formation in
1984 will be stepping down this autumn
his contribution to the company’s
development has been substantial and 
i should like to take this opportunity to
express our gratitude 
in line with latest corporate governance
practice your board has also reviewed the
effectiveness of its operation and that of its
committees aided by a 100 attendance
record we were able to conclude positively
on this review 
looking forward your board believes the
strong us and stable uk markets coupled
with the operational expertise of the
group’s management and staff should lead
to improved results during the coming year
i should like to end this report by thanking
on your behalf all of the group’s staff 
who in the last year delivered an
outstanding performance
cob stenham
chairman
6 july 2005
chairman’ s
report
cob stenham
chairman