Ashland: Fiscal Q4 Earnings Snapshot

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Ashland Inc. (ASH) on Wednesday reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $4 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Wilmington, Delaware-based company said it had a loss of 7 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 41 cents per share.

The results missed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 47 cents per share.

The chemical company posted revenue of $518 million in the period, which matched Street forecasts.

For the year, the company reported profit of $178 million, or $3.31 per share. Revenue was reported as $2.19 billion.

Ashland shares have decreased 29% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $76.55, a drop of 29% in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ASH at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ASH