Ashland Posts Higher-Than-Expected Adjusted Profit

Ashland posted a higher-than-expected adjusted profit, but its costs jumped and the chemical maker took a large pension charge as it changed accounting methods.

For the fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 30, Ashland posted a net loss of $263 million, or $3.38 per share, compared with a net loss of $141 million or $1.79 per share in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding one-time items, the company posted profit of $1.01 per share.

By that measure, analysts expected earnings of 93 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company's costs jumped sharply during the quarter, with its cost of sales up 27% to $1.53 billion and its administrative costs up 39% to $670 million.

Sales were up 22.5% to $1.85 billion. Analysts expected sales of $1.75 billion.

Covington, Kentucky-based Ashland changed the way it recorded gains and losses during the quarter, choosing to now post them as they happen rather than once a year. The change resulted in a fiscal fourth-quarter charge of $3.51 per share.

Ashland bought specialty ingredients maker ISP earlier this year for $3.2 billion. About five weeks of the fiscal fourth quarter included results from the company.

Chief Executive Jim O'Brien said the integration is "going very well."

"We are shifting our emphasis to focused growth and earnings expansion, and I believe we have all the necessary elements to achieve long-term success," O'Brien said in a statement.