Ashtead Group plc announced that Brendan Horgan will be promoted to Group Chief Operating Officer with effect from January 1, 2018. Brendan joined Sunbelt in 1996 and was appointed Chief Executive of Sunbelt and to the Ashtead Board in January 2011. Going forward Brendan will retain his day to day responsibilities for running Sunbelt and in addition will work alongside Geoff Drabble on the operational and strategic development of the wider Group. The Group announced that Chris Cole who has been Chairman of Ashtead since 2007 and previously a non-executive director has notified the Board of his intention to retire from Ashtead next year. A process is starting to recruit a new Chairman with the aim of affecting an orderly handover at the Annual General Meeting in September 2018.