By Ernest Scheyder
NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Specialty chemical maker Ashland Inc posted a fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, helped by cost cuts and an uptick in sales.
Ashland, which bought rival Hercules Inc in November 2008, owns the Valvoline brand of lubricants and retail oil-change locations. It also sells materials to industries that have slowly begun to recover from the recession, including transportation, construction and personal care products.
'Each of our businesses is currently showing some signs of demand improvement and stable or improving margins,' Chief Executive Officer Jim O'Brien said in a statement. 'We are starting to demonstrate our ability to generate the consistent earnings, gross margins and cash flows indicative of specialty chemicals companies.'
The Covington, Kentucky-based company posted net income of $86 million, or $1.10 per share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $119 million, or $1.73 per share.
Excluding one-time items, Ashland posted a profit of 89 cents per share.
Analysts were expecting earnings of 72 cents per share, Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S said, but added that tax-related adjustments announced by the company made it difficult to compare that estimate with the reported results.
Ashland said 'discrete income tax effects' boosted earnings by 8 cents per share.
Revenue rose 2.7 percent to $2.02 billion, narrowly ahead of the $2.00 billion that analysts expected.
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn) Keywords: ASHLAND/ (ernest.scheyder@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646-223-6119; Reuters Messaging:ernest.scheyder.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Specialty chemical maker Ashland Inc posted a fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, helped by cost cuts and an uptick in sales.
Ashland, which bought rival Hercules Inc in November 2008, owns the Valvoline brand of lubricants and retail oil-change locations. It also sells materials to industries that have slowly begun to recover from the recession, including transportation, construction and personal care products.
'Each of our businesses is currently showing some signs of demand improvement and stable or improving margins,' Chief Executive Officer Jim O'Brien said in a statement. 'We are starting to demonstrate our ability to generate the consistent earnings, gross margins and cash flows indicative of specialty chemicals companies.'
The Covington, Kentucky-based company posted net income of $86 million, or $1.10 per share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $119 million, or $1.73 per share.
Excluding one-time items, Ashland posted a profit of 89 cents per share.
Analysts were expecting earnings of 72 cents per share, Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S said, but added that tax-related adjustments announced by the company made it difficult to compare that estimate with the reported results.
Ashland said 'discrete income tax effects' boosted earnings by 8 cents per share.
Revenue rose 2.7 percent to $2.02 billion, narrowly ahead of the $2.00 billion that analysts expected.
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn) Keywords: ASHLAND/ (ernest.scheyder@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646-223-6119; Reuters Messaging:ernest.scheyder.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
