Ashland reports sharp increase in Q3 earnings per share
25 Jul '07
4 min read
Ashland Inc announced preliminary income from continuing operations, after taxes, of $86 million, or $1.35 per share, for the quarter ended June 30, 2007, the third quarter of Ashland's fiscal year.
This compares with income from continuing operations of $42 million, or 59 cents per share, in the same prior-year quarter. Net income for the June 2007 quarter was $100 million, or $1.58 per share, as compared with $93 million, or $1.29 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Net income for both periods included income from discontinued operations.
For the June 2007 quarter, discontinued operations included a net favorable adjustment to asbestos reserves and related insurance receivables of $16 million, resulting from Ashland's ongoing assessment of these matters.
In the year-ago June quarter, discontinued operations included income of $51 million from the operating results of the company's former Ashland Paving And Construction Inc (APAC) subsidiary, which was sold in August 2006.
Operating income, before taxes, for the June 2007 quarter totaled $91 million, which includes a favorable adjustment of $10.8 million related to lower than expected pension and other benefit costs. Operating income for the quarter also benefited from an adjustment of $7.0 million to environmental reserves, reflecting both updated estimates of future costs for identified sites and improvements to the environmental remediation assessment process.
For the June 2006 quarter, operating income was $47 million and included a $7.6 million currency hedge gain related to an acquisition by Ashland Water Technologies, $12.1 million of APAC costs that were retained within continuing operations as required by GAAP, and an unfavorable adjustment to environmental reserves of $7.1 million.
Operating income totaled $73 million for the June 2007 quarter, excluding the environmental reserve and employee benefit adjustments of $18 million, as compared with operating income of $58 million for the 2006 quarter, which excludes $11 million of unfavorable adjustments previously mentioned.
marketing@alchempro.com
