Ashland's Consumer Markets group (Valvoline) reported record second-quarter income driven by lower raw-material costs and improved results across nearly every segment of the business, with particularly strong results in Valvoline Instant Oil ChangeSM and in Valvoline's International business. Although lubricant volumes declined 4 percent on a year-over-year basis, they rose 6 percent on a sequential basis. While year-over-year sales decreased 5 percent to $494 million, EBITDA rose 33 percent to $88 million. EBITDA as a percent of sales was 17.8 percent, an increase of 510 basis points versus the year-ago quarter.

Ashland Inc. reported income from continuing operations of $55 million on sales of $2.0 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, the second quarter of its 2013 fiscal year. For the year-ago quarter, Ashland reported income from continuing operations of $90 million on sales of $2.1 billion.