Elsewhere, Ashtead rose 3.75p to 153.75p as UBS argued that City forecasts for earnings at the tool hire group are far too conservative. UBS said: "We believe that our top-of-the-consensus range estimates are conservative and that there is significant upside potential." Despite a very strong run by the stock, the Swiss broker is convinced that there is at least a further 30 per cent upside in the shares and so it told its clients to buy into the company. The main growth opportunity for Ashtead is the US market. This is thanks in part to record demand for tool hire after the hurricanes in the US this year. But the really big money has probably already been made from Ashtead. Shares in the group traded as low as 3p in 2003, when the company appeared to be about to go to the wall. Since then the shares have soared by 5,000 per cent.