Ashland reports Q4 adjusted EPS $1.26, consensus $1.28

Reports Q4 revenue $522M, consensus $524.07M. “Customer demand was generally consistent with our expectations in the fourth quarter and all business units delivered organic sales volume growth,” said Guillermo Novo, CEO of Ashland (ASH). “We generated high-single-digit revenue growth versus the prior year when adjusting for the full-quarter impact of our nutraceuticals divestiture and portfolio improvement initiatives. While most of our markets remain resilient, there were specific areas of weakness, primarily in China. Year-over-year profitability grew significantly as our sales volume converged with customer end market demand and we compare against last year’s inventory reduction actions. Overall absorption at one of our U.S. cellulosic facilities was lower than expected due to unplanned manufacturing challenges related to the start-up of HEC productivity investments. Production at the site has normalized starting in early October.”