Ashland Inc. Announces Webcast of First-Quarter Earnings Presentation To Securities Analysts

Ashland Inc. Announces Webcast of First-Quarter Earnings Presentation To Securities AnalystsCOVINGTON, Ky., Jan. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) today announced that on Wednesday, Jan. 24, at 8:30 a.m. (EST), it will conduct a live webcast of its first-quarter earnings presentation to the investment community. The presentation will cover results for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2006, the first quarter of Ashland's 2007 fiscal year. The company's results will be issued earlier in the day at 7:00 a.m.

In attendance at the presentation will be: J. Marvin Quin, senior vice president and chief financial officer; Daragh L. Porter, vice president, finance, and treasurer, with responsibility for investor relations; Samuel J. Mitchell, president, Ashland Consumer Markets; William A. Thompson, assistant controller; and L. Dean Doza, director, investor relations.

The webcast, which will last approximately 60 minutes, will be accessible through Ashland's Investor Relations website, 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 Following the live event, an archived version of the webcast will be available on the Ashland website for 12 months.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., a diversified, global chemical company, provides quality products, services and solutions to customers in more than 100 countries. A FORTUNE 500 company, it operates through four wholly owned divisions: Ashland Performance Materials, Ashland Distribution, Valvoline and Ashland Water Technologies. To learn more about Ashland, visit www.ashland.com.

FORTUNE 500 is a trademark of Time Inc.

SOURCE Ashland Inc.
CONTACT: Media Relations - Jim Vitak, +1-614-790-3715,
jevitak@ashland.com, or Investor Relations - Dean Doza, +1-859-815-4454,
lddoza@ashland.com, both for Ashland Inc.
Web site: http://www.ashland.com
http://www.ashland.com/investors
(ASH)

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Ashland's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.