WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Ashland Inc. (ASH) announced the preliminary first-quarter results, reporting that net income declined to $61 million or $0.77 per share, from $99 million or $1.25 per share in the same quarter last year. For the first quarter of fiscal 2012, Ashland reported income from continuing operations of $60 million or $0.76 per share. These results included two key item charges totaling approximately $35 million, net of tax, or 44 cents per share, related to stepped-up inventory values from the acquisition of International Specialty Products Inc. last August and severance related to Ashland's cost-reduction program. Excluding items, Ashland's adjusted income from continuing operations for the latest-quarter was $95 million, or $1.20 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.99 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. Sales for the quarter rose to $1.930 billion from $1.433 billion in the prior year quarter. Six analysts had consensus revenue estimate of $1.99 billion for the quarter.
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