Ashland Inc. Board Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend

COVINGTON, Ky., July 14 /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 272nd consecutive quarterly dividend paid on common shares. Ashland began paying dividends in December 1936.

This dividend will be payable on September 15, 2004, to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 23, 2004. As of June 30, 2004, there were 70,967,681 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-                             07/14/2004
    /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 /
    (ASH)

CO:  Ashland Inc.
ST:  Kentucky
IN:  OIL CHM TRN
SU:  DIV

MH-JE 
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6611 07/14/2004 16:53 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.