London, Feb 15, 2026, 13:22 GMT — Market closed.
- Ashtead ended Friday at 5,234p, down 0.7% on the day but up about 6% over the week
- The group bought back 86,300 shares for treasury in the latest step of its $1.5 billion repurchase plan
- Traders are watching late-February corporate deadlines and the early-March shift tied to its planned U.S. listing and index changes
Ashtead Group plc (AHT.L) said it bought back more shares under its $1.5 billion repurchase programme. The stock closed Friday down 0.7% in London, trimming a strong week.
The timing matters because Ashtead is heading into a market-structure change, not just another reporting cycle. The closer the key dates get, the more the shares can be pulled around by flows rather than fundamentals.
Ashtead runs Sunbelt Rentals in North America and earns most of its revenue there, so the London line often trades like a proxy for U.S. construction and industrial demand. When rate expectations move, rental names tend to move with them.
The shares closed at 5,234 pence on Feb. 13, down 36 pence on the day. They traded between 5,164 and 5,292 pence and were up roughly 6% over the past five sessions. (Investing)
In a regulatory filing, Ashtead said it bought 86,300 shares on Feb. 12 at an average 5,188.3804 pence, with prices ranging from 5,124 to 5,246 pence, via J.P. Morgan Securities. The shares were placed into treasury — stock held by the company rather than cancelled — leaving 414.7 million shares in issue excluding treasury shares, it said. (Stockopedia)
The buyback runs alongside a broader reorganisation that will put Sunbelt Rentals Holdings, Inc. on top of the group through a UK “scheme of arrangement”, a court-approved structure often used for big corporate reshuffles. Ashtead said its Form 10 filing in the United States is expected to become effective on Feb. 26, with the scheme anticipated to take effect on Feb. 27 and admissions to trading on the NYSE and the LSE expected from March 2 under the ticker “SUNB”. (Investegate)
FTSE Russell has also put dates around the knock-on effects for benchmark membership. It expects Feb. 27 to be the last day of dealings in Ashtead Group and said Ashtead will be removed from the FTSE UK index series, including the FTSE 100, from the market open on March 2. (FTSE Russell Research)
That sets up an awkward patch for passive money. Funds that track the FTSE 100 can end up selling because they have to, while discretionary investors try to figure out where the natural buyer sits after the switch.
Before the corporate timetable takes over, macro headlines can still steer the stock. U.S. markets are shut on Monday for Presidents Day, then investors get Federal Reserve minutes on Wednesday and housing starts and building permits data the same day — prints that can swing rate bets and, by extension, construction sentiment. (Investopedia)
But it can go the other way fast. A hawkish read on the minutes, or another soft patch in housing, could hit the shares even if buybacks keep chipping away in the background, and index-related selling into the listing change is hard to model cleanly.
For Monday’s open in London, traders will watch whether Ashtead holds above last week’s lows after Friday’s dip, and whether volumes stay elevated as the corporate clock runs down.
The next hard markers are Feb. 26 for the Form 10 to become effective and Feb. 27 for the scheme and last dealings in Ashtead, with March 2 the start date for “SUNB” trading and the associated FTSE reshuffle just after.
