Ashland Inc. Announces Webcast of Second Quarter Earnings Conference C

COVINGTON, Ky., April 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ashland Inc. today announced that on Monday, April 25, at 10:00 a.m. (EDT), it will conduct a live audio webcast of its second quarter earnings presentation to the investment community. The call will cover results for the quarter ended March 31, the second quarter of Ashland's 2005 fiscal year. The company's second-quarter results will be issued at 8:00 a.m. that day.

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The call will be hosted by William E. Henderson, III, director of investor relations, and will include: J. Marvin Quin, senior vice president and chief financial officer, and William A. Thompson, assistant controller. Participants from Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC will include Gary R. Heminger, president, and Garry L. Peiffer, senior vice president, finance and information technology.

The webcast, which will last approximately 60 minutes, will be accessible through Ashland's Investor Relations website, http://www.ashland.com/investors . Following the live event, an archived version of the webcast will be available on the Ashland website for 12 months. Minimum requirements to listen to the webcast include the free Windows MediaPlayer software and a 28.8 Kbps connection to the Internet.

Ashland Inc. is a Fortune 500 transportation construction, chemicals and petroleum company providing products, services and customer solutions throughout the world. To learn more about Ashland, visit http://www.ashland.com/ .