- Sales of
$473 million , down 10 percent from the prior-year quarter - Net income (including discontinued operations) of
$26 million , or$0.51 per diluted share - Income from continuing operations of
$28 million , or$0.54 per diluted share - Adjusted income from continuing operations excluding intangibles amortization expense of
$23 million , or$0.45 per diluted share - Adjusted EBITDA of
$70 million - Cash flows provided by operating activities of
$201 million ; ongoing free cash flow2 of$66 million
Sales in the first quarter were
Net income was
Average diluted shares outstanding totaled 51 million in the first quarter, down from 55 million in the prior-year quarter, following the company’s share repurchase activities over the past 12 months. Ashland repurchased 1.2 million shares during the first quarter and now has
Cash flows provided by operating activities totaled
“Financial results in the December quarter yielded adjusted EBITDA above the outlook range we issued on
“The Ashland team continues to focus on what we can control to build resilience and improve performance of our core businesses,” continued Novo. “Disciplined pricing coupled with moderately deflationary raw material costs and prudent operating expense management was overshadowed by the lower sales volume and production absorption impacts during the quarter. We also continue to progress our strategic priorities to execute, globalize, innovate, and acquire, which drive our actions, investments, and profitable growth expectations. Within our strategy to execute, portfolio optimization activities are underway which will improve our margin profile and reduce earnings volatility in the future, and we are advancing our globalize and innovate strategies to deliver long-term profitable growth.”
“Furthermore, as a part of our disciplined capital allocation approach and our commitment to return capital to shareholders, we continue to believe Ashland’s stock is an attractive use of capital, as demonstrated by our repurchase of an additional
Reportable Segment Performance
To aid in the understanding of Ashland’s ongoing business performance, the results of Ashland’s reportable segments are described below on an adjusted basis. In addition, EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA are reconciled to operating income in Table 4. Free cash flow, ongoing free cash flow and adjusted operating income are reconciled in Table 6 and adjusted income from continuing operations, adjusted diluted earnings per share and adjusted diluted earnings per share excluding intangible amortization expense are reconciled in Table 7 of this news release. These adjusted results are considered non-GAAP financial measures. For a full description of the non-GAAP financial measures used, see the “Use of Non-GAAP Measures” section that further describes these adjustments below.
Life Sciences
Sales were
Adjusted operating income was
Personal Care
Sales were
Adjusted operating income was
Specialty Additives
Sales were
Adjusted operating loss was
Intermediates
Sales were
Adjusted operating income was
Unallocated & Other
Unallocated and other expense was
Financial Outlook
There is growing evidence of a convergence between Ashland’s sales volume and customer end-market demand. While traditionally a seasonally slower period, demand in January demonstrated sequential improvement with similar trends into February order build.
Current demand patterns suggest a potential recovery with continued momentum into the second half of the fiscal year. Demand evolution in the subsequent months will further narrow the range of recovery scenarios.
Ashland’s portfolio optimization actions continue to make progress and include the consolidation of Ashland’s carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) production capacity into Alizay,
Ashland expects to realize a partial return to more typical margins during the second quarter, primarily a result of a forecasted increase in sales and production volumes, with continued improvement throughout the fiscal year. Overall, for the fiscal-second quarter the company expects sales in the range of
“We are encouraged by the improvement in recent demand trends and will continue disciplined production and inventory levels as we closely monitor the coming months. The Ashland team is performing well and focused on implementing our strategic priorities to execute, globalize, innovate and acquire. The actions underway will maximize near-term performance across multiple recovery scenarios and long-term profitable growth. I look forward to discussing our fiscal first quarter financial results and outlook as well as an update on our strategic priorities during our earnings call and webcast tomorrow morning,” said
Conference Call Webcast
The company’s live webcast with securities analysts will include an executive summary and detailed remarks. The live webcast will take place at
To access the call by phone, please go to this registration link and you will be provided with dial in details. To avoid delays, we encourage participants to dial into the conference call fifteen minutes ahead of the scheduled start time.
Following the live event, an archived version of the webcast and supporting materials will be available for 12 months on http://investor.ashland.com.
Use of Non-GAAP Measures
Ashland believes that by removing the impact of depreciation and amortization and excluding certain non-cash charges, amounts spent on interest and taxes and certain other charges that are highly variable from year to year, EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, EBITDA margin and adjusted EBITDA margin provide Ashland’s investors with performance measures that reflect the impact to operations from trends in changes in sales, margin and operating expenses, providing a perspective not immediately apparent from net income, operating income, net income margin and operating income margin. The adjustments Ashland makes to derive the non-GAAP measures of EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, EBITDA margin and adjusted EBITDA margin exclude items which may cause short-term fluctuations in net income and operating income and which Ashland does not consider to be the fundamental attributes or primary drivers of its business. EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, EBITDA margin and adjusted EBITDA margin provide disclosure on the same basis as that used by Ashland’s management to evaluate financial performance on a consolidated and reportable segment basis and provide consistency in our financial reporting, facilitate internal and external comparisons of Ashland’s historical operating performance and its business units, and provide continuity to investors for comparability purposes. EBITDA margin and adjusted EBITDA margin are defined as EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA divided by sales for the corresponding period.
Key items, which are set forth on Table 7 of this release, are defined as financial effects from significant transactions that, either by their nature or amount, have caused short-term fluctuations in net income and/or operating income which Ashland does not consider to reflect Ashland’s underlying business performance and trends most accurately. Further, Ashland believes that providing supplemental information that excludes the financial effects of these items in the financial results will enhance the investor’s ability to compare financial performance between reporting periods.
Tax-specific key items, which are set forth on Table 7 of this release, are defined as financial transactions, tax law changes or other matters that fall within the definition of key items as described above. These items relate solely to tax matters and would only be recorded within the income tax caption of the Statement of Consolidated Income. As with all key items, due to their nature, Ashland does not consider the financial effects of these tax-specific key items on net income to be the most accurate reflection of Ashland’s underlying business performance and trends.
The free cash flow metrics enable Ashland to provide a better indication of the ongoing cash being generated that is ultimately available for both debt and equity holders as well as other investment opportunities. Unlike cash flow provided by operating activities, free cash flow and ongoing free cash flow include the impact of capital expenditures from continuing operations and other significant items impacting free cash flow, providing a more complete picture of current and future cash generation. Free cash flow, ongoing free cash flow, and free cash flow conversion are non-GAAP liquidity measures that Ashland believes provide useful information to management and investors about Ashland’s ability to convert Adjusted EBITDA to ongoing free cash flow. These liquidity measures are used regularly by Ashland’s stakeholders and industry peers to measure the efficiency at providing cash from regular business activity. Free cash flow, ongoing free cash flow, and free cash flow conversion have certain limitations, including that they do not reflect adjustments for certain non-discretionary cash flows such as mandatory debt repayments. The amount of mandatory versus discretionary expenditures can vary significantly between periods.
Adjusted diluted earnings per share is a performance measure used by Ashland and is defined by Ashland as earnings (loss) from continuing operations, adjusted for identified key items and divided by the number of outstanding diluted shares of common stock. Ashland believes this measure provides investors additional insights into operational performance by providing earnings and diluted earnings per share metrics that exclude the effect of the identified key items and tax specific key items.
The adjusted diluted earnings per share, excluding intangibles amortization expense metric enables Ashland to demonstrate the impact of non-cash intangibles amortization expense on earnings per share, in addition to key items previously mentioned. Ashland’s management believes this presentation is helpful to illustrate how previous acquisitions impact applicable period results.
About Ashland
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Ashland has identified some of these forward-looking statements with words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “expects,” “estimates,” “is likely,” “predicts,” “projects,” “forecasts,” “objectives,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “plans” and “intends” and the negative of these words or other comparable terminology. Ashland may from time to time make forward-looking statements in its annual reports, quarterly reports and other filings with the
Ashland’s expectations and assumptions include, without limitation, internal forecasts and analyses of current and future market conditions and trends, management plans and strategies, operating efficiencies and economic conditions (such as prices, supply and demand, cost of raw materials, and the ability to recover raw-material cost increases through price increases), and risks and uncertainties associated with the following: the impact of acquisitions and/or divestitures Ashland has made or may make (including the possibility that Ashland may not realize the anticipated benefits from such transactions); Ashland’s substantial indebtedness (including the possibility that such indebtedness and related restrictive covenants may adversely affect Ashland’s future cash flows, results of operations, financial condition and its ability to repay debt); severe weather, natural disasters, public health crises, cyber events and legal proceedings and claims (including product recalls, environmental and asbestos matters); the effects of the ongoing
1Financial results are preliminary until Ashland’s Form 10-Q is filed with the
2The ongoing free cash flow metric excludes the impact of inflows and outflows from
™ Trademark, Ashland or its subsidiaries, registered in various countries.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Investor Relations: | Media Relations: |
+1 (614) 790-2095 | +1 (302) 995-3158 |
wcwhitaker@ashland.com | ccbrown@ashland.com |
Attachment
- Ashland_Q1_ 2024_Earnings_ Release_with_Financial_Tables_FNL_20240130
Source:
2024 GlobeNewswire, Inc., source