Ashland Inc. Announces Webcast of Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call

COVINGTON, Ky., Oct. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) today announced that on Monday, Oct. 25, at 9:30 a.m. (EDT), it will conduct a live audio webcast of its fourth quarter earnings presentation to the investment community. The call will be hosted by William E. Henderson, III, director of investor relations, and will include J. Marvin Quin, senior vice president and chief financial officer; Garry M. Higdem, senior vice president, Ashland Inc., and president, Ashland Paving And Construction, Inc.; and William A. Thompson, assistant controller. Participants from Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC will include Gary R. Heminger, president, and Garry L. Peiffer, senior vice president.

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

The webcast, which will last approximately 60 minutes, will be accessible through Ashland's Investor Relations Web site, http://www.ashland.com/investors . Following the live event, an archived version of the webcast will be available on the Ashland Web site for 12 months.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.

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 http://www.ashland.com .

SOURCE  Ashland Inc.
    -0-                             10/18/2004
    /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, 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
SU:  MAV CCA

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4514 10/18/2004 08:00 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.