Ashland Inc. Presents Webcast of Preliminary First-Quarter Earnings; Holds Annual Meeting

COVINGTON, Ky., Jan. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) today announced that on Wednesday, January 25, at 4:30 p.m. (EST), it will conduct a live webcast of its first-quarter earnings presentation to the investment community. The presentation had previously been scheduled for 10 a.m. It was shifted to the afternoon because of internal scheduling issues.

 

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

This presentation will cover preliminary results for the quarter ended December 31, 2005, the first quarter of Ashland's 2006 fiscal year. The company's results will be issued at 8 a.m. that day.

Participating in the presentation will be: J. Marvin Quin, senior vice president and chief financial officer; Daragh L. Porter, vice president, finance, and treasurer, with responsibility for investor relations; and Samuel J. Mitchell, Jr., vice president, Ashland Inc., and president, Valvoline.

The webcast, which will last approximately 60 minutes, will be accessible through Ashland's Investor Relations website, www.ashland.com/investors. Following the live event, an archived version of the webcast will be available on the Ashland website for 12 months. Minimum requirements to listen to the webcast include the free Windows MediaPlayer software and a 28.8 Kbps connection to the Internet.

On Thursday, January 26, at 10:30 a.m. (EST), Ashland will hold its annual shareholders meeting at the Metropolitan Club, 50 East RiverCenter Blvd., in Covington, Kentucky.

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

SOURCE  Ashland Inc.
    -0-                             01/18/2006
    /CONTACT:  Media, Jim Vitak, +1-614-790-3715, or jevitak@ashland.com, or
Investors, Daragh Porter, +1-859-815-3825, or dlporter@ashland.com, both of
Ashland Inc./
    /Photo:  NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040113/ASHLANDLOGO
             AP Archive:  http://photoarchive.ap.org
             PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com/
    /Company News On-Call:  http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/065263.html/
    /Web site:  http://www.ashland.com
                http://www.ashland.com/investors /
    (ASH)
CO:  Ashland Inc.
ST:  Kentucky
IN:  OIL CHM TRN CST
SU:  CCA MAV
FB-AK
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4799 01/18/2006 08:00 EST 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.