WILMINGTON, DE — Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) posted a first-quarter fiscal 2026 net loss and trimmed its full-year earnings outlook as operational disruptions and soft demand in key industrial markets weighed on results, even as the company pointed to resilience in its Life Sciences and Personal Care businesses.
The additives and specialty ingredients maker reported first-quarter sales of $386 million for the period ended December 31, 2025, down 5% from $405 million a year earlier. Ashland said the previously announced divestiture of its Avoca business reduced overall sales by about $10 million, or roughly 2 percentage points, and that sales declined 3% excluding that divestiture.
Ashland reported a loss from continuing operations of $14 million, or $(0.30) per diluted share, and a net loss of $12 million, or $(0.26) per diluted share. Adjusted Income from Continuing Operations Excluding Intangibles Amortization Expense was $12 million, or $0.26 per diluted share, compared with $14 million, or $0.28 per diluted share, a year earlier.
Adjusted EBITDA was $58 million, down 5% from $61 million in the prior-year quarter, with the Avoca divestiture accounting for about $1 million of the decline. Excluding Avoca, Ashland said Adjusted EBITDA fell 3%, citing lower volumes and modest pricing pressure partially offset by product mix and lower selling, administrative, research and development expenses tied to restructuring benefits. The company said the Calvert City outage negatively impacted Adjusted EBITDA by about $10 million.
Chief Executive Officer Guillermo Novo said the quarter reflected “disciplined execution” in mixed demand conditions, with margins supported by cost actions, improved mix and portfolio optimization. He said Life Sciences delivered year-over-year growth on healthy pharmaceutical demand and that Personal Care held up with gains in biofunctional actives and microbial protection, while Specialty Additives continued to face competitive pressure and weaker demand in coatings, construction and some industrial markets.
Operating cash flow totaled $125 million, compared with a $30 million use of cash in the prior-year quarter. Ashland said the increase was driven primarily by a $103 million tax refund received in October 2025 tied to a capital loss carryback from its Nutraceuticals divestiture, along with working capital improvements. Ongoing Free Cash Flow, excluding the tax refund, was $26 million, compared with negative $26 million a year earlier.
In its segment results, Life Sciences sales rose 4% to $139 million, driven by higher volumes in pharmaceutical applications, while Personal Care sales fell 8% to $123 million, largely due to the Avoca divestiture. Specialty Additives sales declined 11% to $102 million amid weakness in coatings demand, particularly in China, and heightened competition in the Middle East, Africa and India. Intermediates sales fell 6% to $31 million, reflecting lower pricing across the butanediol value chain in what the company described as an oversupplied market.
Ashland said it is narrowing its full-year fiscal 2026 Adjusted EBITDA guidance to a range of $400 million to $420 million, down from its prior range of $400 million to $430 million. The company attributed the change to roughly $11 million in temporary impacts tied to the Calvert City startup delay and recent weather-related disruptions, which it said are isolated to the second quarter.
The company maintained its full-year sales outlook of $1.835 billion to $1.905 billion and said it still expects Ongoing Free Cash Flow conversion of about 50% of Adjusted EBITDA, with capital expenditures of approximately $100 million.
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