Call start: 9:01 Call end: 10:02 Ashland Inc. ( ASH) 2012 First Quarter Earnings Call January 24, 2012, 9:01 a.m. ET Executives David Neuberger - Investor Relations James O'Brien - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lamar Chambers - Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer John Panichella - Senior Vice President and President, Ashland Specialty Ingredients Paul Raymond - Senior Vice President, Ashland Inc., and President, Ashland Water Technologies Analyst John McNulty - Credit Suisse Michael Sison - Keybanc Capital Markets Robert Walker - Jefferies Michael Harrison - First Analysis Corp Ram Sivalingam - Deutsche Bank Dmitry Silversteyn - Longbow Research Christopher Shaw - Monness, Crespi, Hardt Presentation Operator Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Ashland’s first quarter earnings call. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session and instructions will be given at that time. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today’s call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host David Neuberger, sir you may begin. David Neuberger Thank you, Shannon. Good morning and welcome to Ashland’s first quarter fiscal 2012 conference call and webcast. We released results for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 at approximately 6AM Eastern Time today and this presentation should be viewed in conjunction with the earnings release. These results are preliminary until we file our 10-Q in February. On the call today are Ashland’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Jim O’Brien; Lamar Chambers, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; John Panichelle, President of Ashland’s Specialty Ingredients; and Paul Raymond, President of Ashland Water Technologies.
