Ashland (ASH) Declares Completion Of Senior Notes Offering

Ashland Global Holdings Inc.’s (NYSE:ASH) fully-owned subsidiary, Ashland Services B.V, declared that it completed its earlier announced offering of €500 million (roughly $560 million) total principal amount of 2% senior notes due 2028.

The notes are treated as senior unsecured obligations of Ashland Services B.V. Notably, the notes were guaranteed initially by each Ashland and Ashland LLC, a fully-owned subsidiary of Ashland, on an unsecured basis.

Ashland used the net proceeds from the senior notes offering along with its delayed draw Term Loan A facility and other funds of Ashland LLC or its subsidiaries to purchase Ashland LLC’s outstanding 4.75% senior notes (having a total principal amount of $671,209,000) slated to mature in 2022.

The company also purchased Hercules LLC’s outstanding 6.6% debentures (having a total principal amount of $25,000) slated to mature in 2027 and outstanding 6.500% junior subordinated debentures (having a total principal amount of $2,925,000) slated to mature in 2029, and Ashland LLC’s outstanding 6.875% senior notes (having a total principal amount of $92,153,000) slated to mature in 2043.

Moreover, the notes were offered to qualified institutional buyers in the United States, pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933. It was also offered to non-U.S. residents, pursuant to Regulation S of the Securities Act.

Shares of Ashland have gained 13.9% in the past year compared with the industry’s 0.4% growth.

In November 2019, the company expected demand dynamics in first-quarter fiscal 2020 to be similar to that in the fiscal fourth quarter. Ashland sees limited improvement in Oral Care and Pharmachem businesses in the near term. The company expects pricing and raw-material price movements to remain balanced. Moreover, the temporary shutdown of the Nanjing plant is expected to affect its performance in the fiscal first quarter.

Ashland has completed its cost-reduction program. The company reduced costs by $115 million on a run-rate basis as of Sep 30, 2019. It envisions the carryover impact from the program in fiscal 2020 to be nearly $25 million of selling, general and administrative cost savings.

Ashland Global Holdings Inc. Price and Consensus

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Ashland currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) , Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) and Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) .

Daqo New Energy has a projected earnings growth rate of 326.3% for 2020. The company’s shares have rallied 57.9% in a year. It sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Royal Gold has an estimated earnings growth rate of 83.5% for fiscal 2020. It currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1. Its shares have returned 39.1% in a year.

Commercial Metals has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and a projected earnings growth rate of 20.2% for 2020. The company’s shares have rallied 33% in a year.

Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2020

In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-hold tickers for the entirety of 2020?

Last year's 2019 Zacks Top 10 Stocks portfolio returned gains as high as +102.7%. Now a brand-new portfolio has been handpicked from over 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these long-term buys.

Access Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2020 today >>