Ashland Posts Q2 Profit, Announces $1 Billion Share Repurchase Plan

reported preliminary financial results for the fiscal second quarter on Wednesday. The Covington, Kentucky-based company reported a quarterly profit of $224 million, or $3.26 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $44 million, or $0.57 per share. Its earnings from continuing operations came in at $1.39 per share, versus a year-ago loss from continuing operations of $0.78 per share. Excluding one-time items, the company's adjusted earnings from continuing operations climbed to $2.03 per share from $1.53 per share. Its revenue slipped 13 percent to $1.35 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $1.74 per share on revenue of $1.42 billion. The average estimate among 5 Estimize users was for earnings of $1.72 per share and revenue of $1.42 billion. Operating profit at its performance-materials segment came in at $30 million, versus a year-ago operating loss of $35 million. Operating profit at specialty ingredients segment climbed 27 percent to $65 million, while valvoline operating earnings rose 1.2 percent to $81 million. Adjusted EBITDA climbed around 11 percent to $301 million in the quarter, while adjusted EBITDA margin widened 470 basis points to 22.3 percent. Ashland's board approved a new $1 billion share repurchase authorization. "Ashland`s performance through the first half of the fiscal year is the result of sound execution. Looking forward, we will continue to focus on cost control and prioritizing highly profitable, differentiated growth segments while sustaining effective capital allocation. We are playing to our strengths by focusing on the products and markets where we provide the most value to our customers. We continue to make incremental capital investments to expand product manufacturing capacity for some high-growth end markets. We also have divested less strategic segments, such as Valvoline`s car-care products assets. We are pleased to have board authorization to continue our stock repurchase program as we believe this is currently the best use of our strong balance sheet and cash flow," William A. Wulfsohn, Ashland chairman and chief executive officer said. Ashland shares fell 2.42 percent to $124.00 in after-hours trading.