Ashland Inc. Board Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend

Ashland Inc. Board Declares Regular Quarterly DividendCOVINGTON, Ky., May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The board of directors of Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) today declared the regular quarterly dividend of 27.5 cents per common share on the company's stock, equivalent to an annual dividend of $1.10 per share.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040113/ASHLANDLOGO )

This action marks the 271st consecutive quarterly dividend paid on common shares. Ashland began paying dividends in December 1936.

This dividend will be payable on June 15, 2004, to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 28, 2004. As of April 30, 2004, there were 70,373,118 shares outstanding.

Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) is a Fortune 500 transportation construction, chemicals and petroleum company providing products, services and customer solutions throughout the world. To learn more about Ashland, visit www.ashland.com .

SOURCE  Ashland Inc.
    -0-                             05/20/2004
    /CONTACT:  Media, Jim Vitak, +1-614-790-3715, or jevitak@ashland.com , or
Investors, Bill Henderson, +1-859-815-4454, or wehenderson@ashland.com , both
of Ashland Inc./
    /Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040113/ASHLANDLOGO
             AP Archive:  http://photoarchive.ap.org
             PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or 212-782-2840/
    /Company News On-Call:  http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/065263.html /
    /Web site:  http://www.ashland.com /
    (ASH)
CO:  Ashland Inc.
ST:  Kentucky, Georgia, Ohio
IN:  OIL
SU:  DIV
WB-JT 
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6729 05/20/2004 12:17 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Ashland's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.