Ashland Quarterly Profit Surges To $353 million

Ashland Inc ASH reported its FQ2 net profit at $353 million, or $4.39 per share, up from $22 million, or $0.27 per share, in the year-earlier period. ASH's quarterly sales increased 9.4% to $1.56 billion. Excluding a gain from the sale of its distribution business and other one-time items, the company's adjusted earnings from continuing operations increased 2% to $0.86 per share. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.78 per share on sales of $1.5 billion. ASH shares fell 0.07% to close at $57.05 yesterday. Read more from Benzinga's Company news.