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•	Oral Care – Specialty Ingredients’ portfolio of oral care products delivers active ingredients in toothpaste and mouthwashes; provides bioadhesive functionality for dentures; delivers flavor, texture and other functional properties; and provides product binding to ensure form and function throughout product lifecycle.

•	Hair Care – Specialty Ingredients’ portfolio of hair care products includes advanced styling polymers, fixatives, conditioning polymers, emulsifiers, preservatives and rheology modifiers.

•	Skin Care – Specialty Ingredients’ portfolio of skin care products helps to firm, nourish, revitalize and smooth skin.  The Skin Care line also provides sun care products, including UV filters, water-resistant agents and thickeners.  Emulsifiers, emollients, preservatives and rheology modifiers complete the Skin Care product line.

•	Home Care – Specialty Ingredients’ portfolio of products and technologies is used in many types of cleaning applications, including fabric care, home care and dishwashing.  Specialty Ingredients’ products are used in a variety of applications for viscosity enhancement, particle suspension, rheology modification and stabilization.

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Pharmaceutical – Specialty Ingredients is a leading supplier of excipients and tablet coating systems to the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. The excipients division offers a comprehensive range of polymers for use as tablet binders, superdisintegrants, sustained-release agents and drug solubilizers, as well as a portfolio of fully formulated, one-step tablet coating systems for immediate-, sustained- and delayed-release applications.

•

Nutrition – Specialty Ingredients’ nutrition portfolio provides functional benefits in areas such as thickening, texture control, thermal gelation, structure enhancement, water binding, clarification and stabilization. Its core products include cellulose gums and vinyl pyrrolidone polymers which are used in a wide range of offerings for bakery, beverage, dairy, desserts, meat products, pet food, prepared foods, sauces and savory products.

•

Coatings – Coatings Specialties is a recognized leader in rheology solutions for waterborne architectural paint and coatings.  Products include hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC), which provides thickening and application properties for interior and exterior paints, and nonionic synthetic associative thickeners (NSATs), which are APEO-free liquid synthetics for high-performance paint and industrial coatings. The Coatings Specialties market complements its rheology offering with a broad portfolio of performance foam-control agents, surfactants and wetting agents, dispersants and pH neutralizers.

•	Construction – Construction Specialties is a major producer and supplier of cellulose ethers and companion products for the construction industry.  These products control properties such as water retention, open time, workability, adhesion, stabilization, pumping, sag resistance, rheology, strength, appearance and performance in dry-mortar formulations.

•	Energy – Energy Specialties is a leading global manufacturer of guar-, synthetic- and cellulosic-based products for drilling fluids, oil-well cement slurries, completion and workover fluids, fracturing fluids and production chemicals.  Specialty Ingredients offers the oil and gas industry solutions for drilling, stimulation, completion, cementing and production applications.

•

Adhesives – Adhesives Specialties manufactures and sells adhesive solutions to the packaging and converting, building and construction, and transportation markets and manufactures and markets specialty coatings and adhesive solutions for use across multiple industries. Key technologies and markets include: acrylic polymers for pressure-sensitive adhesives; urethane adhesive for flexible packaging applications; aqueous and radiation-curable adhesives and specialty coatings for printing and converting applications; emulsion polymer isocyanate adhesives for structural wood bonding; elastomeric polymer adhesives for commercial roofing applications; acrylic, polyurethane and epoxy structural adhesives for bonding fiberglass reinforced plastics, composites, thermoplastics and metals in automotive, marine, recreational and industrial applications; specialty phenolic resins for paper impregnation and friction material bonding. Adhesive Specialties' adhesive products provide an array of functional properties including high-strength bonding, ease and speed of product assembly, heat and moisture resistance and design flexibility.

•

Performance – Performance Specialties provides products and services to over 30 industries.  Ashland offers a broad spectrum of organo- and water-soluble polymers that are derived from both natural and synthetic resources.  Product lines include derivatized cellulose polymers, synthetics, guar and guar derivatives that impart effective functionalities to serve a variety of industrial markets and specialized applications.   Many of the products within Performance Specialties function as performance additives that deliver high levels of end-user value in formulated products.  In other areas, such as plastics and textiles, Performance Specialties’ products function as a processing aid, improving the quality of end products and reducing manufacturing costs.

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•	requiring Ashland to dedicate a substantial portion of its cash flow from operations to pay principal and interest on its debt, which would reduce the availability of Ashland’s cash flow to fund working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, execution of its growth strategy and other general corporate purposes;

•	limiting Ashland’s ability to borrow additional amounts to fund working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of its growth strategy and other purposes;

•	making Ashland more vulnerable to adverse changes in general economic, industry and regulatory conditions and in its business by limiting Ashland’s flexibility in planning for, and making it more difficult for Ashland to react quickly to, changing conditions;

•	placing Ashland at a competitive disadvantage compared with those of its competitors that have less debt and lower debt service requirements;

•	making Ashland more vulnerable to increases in interest rates since some of its indebtedness is subject to variable rates of interest; and

•	making it more difficult for Ashland to satisfy its financial obligations.

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•	Peer Group – Materials:  S&P 500† Materials (large-cap) and S&P MidCap 400† Materials.  As of September 30, 2015, this peer group consisted of 59 companies.

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(1)

This figure includes (a) 5,874 stock options outstanding under the Amended and Restated Ashland Inc. Incentive Plan (“Amended Plan”) and (b) 102 stock options outstanding under the Hercules Incorporated Amended and Restated Long Term Incentive Compensation Plan. This figure also includes 2,972 net shares that could be issued under stock-settled SARs under the Amended Plan, 183,657 net shares that could be issued under stock-settled SARs under the 2006 Ashland Inc. Incentive Plan (“2006 Incentive Plan”) and 222,055 net shares that could be issued under stock-settled SARs and 16,000 shares that could be issued under stock-settled restricted stock units under the Amended and Restated 2011 Ashland Inc. Incentive Plan (“2011 Incentive Plan”), based upon the closing price of Ashland Common Stock on the NYSE as of September 30, 2015 of $100.62. Additionally, this figure includes 151,088 restricted shares granted under the Amended Plan and deferred, 71,298 performance share units for the fiscal 2013-2015 performance period, 58,983 performance share units for the fiscal 2014-2016 performance period, and 68,592 performance share units for the fiscal 2015-2017 performance period, payable in Ashland Common Stock under the 2011 Incentive Plan, estimated assuming target performance is achieved. Also included in the figure are 31,680 shares to be issued under the pre-2005 Deferred Compensation Plan for Employees and 17,258 shares to be issued under the pre-2005 Deferred Compensation Plan for Non-Employee Directors, payable in Ashland Common Stock upon termination of employment or service with Ashland.

(2)	The weighted-average exercise price excludes shares in Ashland Common Stock which may be distributed under the deferred compensation plans and the deferred restricted stock and performance share units which may be distributed under the 2011 Incentive Plan, as described in footnotes (1) and (4) in this table.

(3)

This figure includes 2,414,128 shares available for issuance under the Amended and Restated 2015 Ashland Inc. Incentive Plan (“2015 Incentive Plan”), 144,789 shares available for issuance under the pre-2005 Deferred Compensation Plan for Employees and 264,387 shares available for issuance under the pre-2005 Deferred Compensation Plan for Non-Employee Directors. Under the 2015 Incentive Plan, full-value awards, which include all awards other than stock options and SARs, reduce the share reserve on a 2.75-to-1 basis.

(4)

This figure includes 31,223 shares to be issued under the Deferred Compensation Plan for Employees (2005), which is described in the “Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation-Ashland Inc. Employees’ Deferral Plan” section of Ashland’s proxy statement, and 171,678 shares to be issued under the Deferred Compensation Plan for Non-Employee Directors (2005), which is described in the “Compensation of Directors-Annual Retainer” and “Compensation of Directors-Restricted Shares/Units” sections of Ashland’s proxy statement, payable in Ashland Common Stock upon termination of employment or service with Ashland. Because these plans are not equity compensation plans as defined by the rules of the NYSE, neither plan required approval by Ashland’s shareholders.

(5)

This figure includes 382,741 shares available for issuance under the Deferred Compensation Plan for Employees (2005) and 302,914 shares available for issuance under the Deferred Compensation Plan for Non-Employee Directors (2005). Because these plans are not equity compensation plans as defined by the rules of the NYSE, neither plan required approval by Ashland’s shareholders. Ashland also granted Mr. Wulfsohn, its Chief Executive Officer, an employment inducement award, in compliance with Rule 303A.08 of The New York Stock Exchange Listed Company Manual, consisting of a one-time grant of time-vested restricted stock in the amount of 50,000 shares (“2015 Inducement Award”). All shares under the 2015 Inducement Award have been granted, are no longer available for future issuance and are not included in this figure.

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(a)	Ashland includes only U.S. and Canada in its North American designation.

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•	In 2014, completed a prepaid variable share repurchase agreement for $80 million and received 0.8 million shares.

•	In 2014, entered into $750 million of accelerated share repurchase agreements that were completed during 2015 and received 6.4 million shares, of which 0.5 million shares were received during 2015.

•	In 2014, entered into $250 million of share repurchase agreements that were completed during 2015 and received 2.4 million shares, of which 1.2 million were repurchased during 2015.

•	In 2015, entered into $270 million of accelerated share repurchase agreements that were completed during 2015 and received 2.2 million shares.

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•	Ashland’s net income amounted to $309 million in 2015, $233 million in 2014 and $683 million in 2013, or $4.48, $3.00 and $8.57 diluted earnings per share, respectively.

•	Discontinued operations, which are reported net of taxes, resulted in income of $118 million, $161 million and $130 million during 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

•	Income from continuing operations, which excludes results from discontinued operations, amounted to $191 million in 2015, $72 million in 2014 and $553 million in 2013, or $2.78, $0.93 and $6.95 diluted earnings per share, respectively.

•	The effective income tax benefit rate of 13% for 2015, income tax benefit rate of 162% for 2014, and the income tax expense rate of 26% for 2013, were significantly affected by a number of discrete items.

•	Ashland incurred pretax net interest and other financing expense of $174 million, $166 million and $282 million during 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.  Certain charges associated with debt refinancing activity impacted 2015 and 2013.

•	Operating income was $458 million, $46 million and $1,039 million during 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

•	Expense of $255 million and $438 million in 2015 and 2014, respectively, and income of $417 million in 2013 from the immediate recognition from the change in the fair value of the plan assets and net actuarial gains and losses for defined benefit pension plans and other postretirement benefit plans;

•	Restructuring and integration costs include the following:

◦	$27 million of restructuring costs (including $6 million of accelerated depreciation and $17 million related to the restructuring plan within an existing manufacturing facility) during 2015;

◦	$147 million of restructuring and integration costs (including $17 million of accelerated depreciation and $19 million in asset impairment charges related to a foreign operation) during 2014; and

◦	$29 million of restructuring and other integration costs during 2013;

•	a $14 million impairment related to the Valvoline joint venture equity investment within Venezuela during 2015 and a $50 million impairment charge related to the ASK joint venture equity investment during 2014;

•	$12 million, $13 million and $16 million net environmental charges during 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively;

•	$11 million, $13 million and $41 million impairment charges related to certain in-process research and development (IPR&D) assets associated with the acquisition of International Specialty Products Inc. (ISP) in 2011 during 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively;

•	$16 million of tax indemnity income, a $13 million charge related to a customer claim, and a $7 million charge for a stock incentive plan award modification, each during 2015;

•	two $5 million charges for a foreign tax indemnification receivable adjustment and a legal reserve, respectively, during 2014; and

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•	$22 million and $13 million gains resulting from Ashland's settlement of an insurance claim and settlement of a customer claim, respectively, during 2013.

(a)	Excludes $6 million, $36 million and $2 million of asset impairment charges and accelerated depreciation during 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

(b)	For supplemental information on the components of this adjustment, see page M-30 within the MD&A - Critical Accounting Policies - Employee benefit obligations.

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a $146 million decrease in expense compared to the prior year due to fluctuations in adjustments from the gains and losses for pension and postretirement benefit plans (costs of $155 million in 2015 and $301 million in 2014). As previously discussed within the cost of sales analysis, the 2015 remeasurement loss was driven primarily by a lower than expected return on pension plan assets (see "Critical Accounting Policies" for additional details);

•	Approximately $100 million of current year cost savings related to the 2014 global restructuring compared to approximately $40 million of cost savings in the prior year;

•	$98 million key item expense during 2014 for severance and other restructuring costs associated with the 2014 global restructuring;

•	Environmental reserve expense adjustments of $32 million and $29 million during 2015 and 2014, respectively;

•	Favorable foreign currency exchange of $36 million during 2015;

•	Increased employee related costs of approximately $22 million during 2015;

•	$21 million decrease in expense for certain divestitures, primarily the Elastomers division during 2015; and

•	Tax indemnification income of $16 million and a stock incentive award modification resulting in expense of $7 million during 2015.

•

a $590 million increase in expense compared to the prior year due to fluctuations in adjustments from the gains and losses for pension and postretirement benefit plans (cost of $301 million in 2014 and income of $289 million in 2013). As previously discussed within the cost of sales analysis, the 2014 remeasurement loss was driven primarily by lower discount rates and a change in mortality tables (see "Critical Accounting Policies" for additional details);

•	Certain key item expense in 2014 and 2013 of $98 million and $29 million, respectively, for severance, restructuring and integration charges;

•	Increased incentive compensation of approximately $50 million during 2014;

•	Approximately $40 million in cost savings during 2014 resulting from the 2014 global restructuring program; and

•	Environmental reserve expense adjustments of $29 million and $22 million during 2014 and 2013, respectively.

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•

In 2015, other comprehensive loss, net of tax, from foreign currency translation adjustments was $369 million, compared to $160 million in 2014, mainly as a result of the strengthening of the U.S. Dollar against other global currencies, including the Euro and Australian dollar. The fluctuations in unrealized translation losses are primarily due to translating foreign subsidiary financial statements from local currencies to U.S. Dollars.

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Pension and postretirement obligation adjustment was $18 million and $21 million in 2015 and 2014, respectively. Of these amounts, $17 million and $25 million during 2015 and 2014, respectively, of unrecognized prior service credits, net of tax, related to pension and other postretirement benefit plans were amortized and reclassified into net income, while cost of $1 million and credit of $4 million, respectively, of additional unrecognized prior service, net of tax, was included in other comprehensive loss.

•	$11 million of unrealized loss on available-for-sale securities, net of tax, related to the restricted investments, was recognized within other comprehensive loss during 2015.

•

In 2014, other comprehensive loss, net of tax, from foreign currency translation adjustments was $160 million, of which $166 million was recognized within other comprehensive income during 2014, compared to a gain of $37 million in 2013. The fluctuations in unrealized translation are primarily due to translating foreign subsidiary financial statements from local currencies to U.S. Dollars. The change in this caption is a result of the U.S. dollar strengthening against the Euro during the last quarter of 2014. Additionally, as a result of the sale of Water Technologies during 2014, $6 million of translation losses were reclassified into net income.

•

Pension and postretirement obligation adjustment was $21 million and $5 million in 2014 and 2013, respectively. Of these amounts, $25 million and $15 million during 2014 and 2013, respectively, of unrecognized prior service credits, net of tax, related to pension and other postretirement benefit plans were amortized and reclassified into net income, while $4 million and $10 million, respectively, of additional unrecognized prior service credit, net of tax, was included in other comprehensive income (loss).

•	During 2013, $38 million of a net change related to interest rate hedges was recognized. Of this amount, $41 million, net of tax, was reclassified into net income for losses related to the interest rate hedges terminated during the year, while $3 million of an unrealized loss was recorded prior to the termination.

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(a)	Sales are defined as sales and operating revenues.  Gross profit is defined as sales, less cost of sales.

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(a)	Excludes $6 million and $19 million of accelerated depreciation and asset impairment charges during 2015 and 2014, respectively.

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(a)	Excludes $17 million and $2 million of accelerated depreciation during 2014 and 2013, respectively.

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(a)	Amounts exclude service costs of $27 million during 2015 and $30 million during each of 2014 and 2013 which are allocated to Ashland’s reportable segments.

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(a)	Excludes changes resulting from operations acquired or sold.

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(a)	Excludes changes resulting from operations acquired or sold.

•	Accounts receivable - Changes in accounts receivable resulted in a $261 million inflow of cash in 2015 compared to $16 million of cash outflows in 2014 and $43 million of cash inflows in 2013. The larger use of cash during 2014 was due to increased sales compared to 2015 and 2013.

•	Inventory - Changes in inventory resulted in cash inflows of $39 million in 2015 compared to cash outflows of $4 million in 2014 and cash inflows of $106 million in 2013. During 2013, there were decreased inventory levels, primarily within the Specialty Ingredients reportable segment, resulting from lower value guar-based product sold during the year.

•

Trade and other payables - Changes in trade and other payables resulted in cash outflows of $229 million in 2015 compared to cash inflows of $64 million in 2014 and cash outflows of $7 million in 2013. During 2014, there were increased accruals for incentive compensation and severance related to the 2014 global restructuring which resulted in large cash outflows in 2015. Approximately $60 million of incentive compensation payments and $45 million of severance payments related to restructuring activities were made during 2015 compared to 2014 which had approximately $15 million of incentive compensation payments and $52 million of severance payments.

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(a)	Since payment was generated from financing activity, this amount has been included within this calculation.

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(a)	Includes $28 million and $31 million of debt issuance cost discounts as of September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

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(a)	Excludes the assets and liabilities classified within unallocated and other which primarily includes debt and other long-term liabilities such as asbestos and pension. The net liability in unallocated and other was $3,529 million, $3,697 million and $3,075 million as of September 30, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

(b)	Decline primarily due to sale of Elastomers during 2015.

(a)	Includes raw material and service contracts where minimal committed quantities and prices are fixed.

(b)	Includes estimated funding of Ashland’s qualified U.S. and non-U.S. pension plans for 2016, as well as projected benefit payments through 2025 under Ashland’s unfunded pension and other postretirement benefit plans. Excludes the benefit payments from the pension plan trust funds. See Note M of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

(c)	Includes leases for office buildings, retail outlets, transportation equipment, warehouses and storage facilities and other equipment.  For further information, see Note K of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

(d)	Capitalized lease obligations are not significant and are included within this caption.  For further information, see Note I of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

(e)	Includes interest expense on both variable and fixed rate debt assuming no prepayments.  Variable interest rates have been assumed to remain constant through the end of the term at rates that existed as of September 30, 2015.

(f)	Due to uncertainties in the timing of the effective settlement of tax positions with respect to taxing authorities, Ashland is unable to determine the timing of payments related to noncurrent unrecognized tax benefits, including interest and penalties.  Therefore, these amounts were included in the “More than 5 years” column.

(g)	Ashland issues various types of letters of credit as part of its normal course of business.  For further information, see Note I of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

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(a)	For additional information on key assumptions and actual plan asset performance in each year, see the “Actuarial assumptions” discussion within this section.

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(a)	Accounts receivable includes an allowance for doubtful accounts of $11 million in 2015 and $13 million in 2014.

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(a)

At September 30, 2015 and 2014, the accumulated other comprehensive loss of $291 million and income of $107 million, respectively, was comprised of unrecognized prior service credits as a result of certain employee benefit plan amendments of $41 million and $59 million, respectively, net unrealized translation loss of $321 million and gain of $48 million, respectively, and net unrealized loss on available for sale securities of $11 million and zero, respectively.

(b)	Includes income tax benefits resulting from the exercise of stock options of $8 million in 2015, $23 million in 2014 and $1 million in 2013.

(c)	Common shares issued were 441,609, 615,049 and 415,351 for 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

(d)	Common shares repurchased were 3,944,356, 7,812,342 and 1,737,744 for 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

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(a)	Excludes changes resulting from operations acquired or sold.

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(a)	The results in 2015 and 2014 include a $14 million and $50 million impairment on the Valvoline joint venture in Venezuela and the ASK joint venture, respectively.

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(a)	Included in restricted investments and $30 million within other current assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

(b)	Included in other noncurrent assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

(a)	Included in other noncurrent assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

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(a)	Investment income for the demand deposit includes interest income as well as dividend income transferred from the equity and corporate bond mutual funds.

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(a)	Fair values of $0 denote a value less than $1 million.

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(a)	As of September 30, 2015, goodwill consisted of $142 million for the Composites reporting unit and $171 million for the Intermediates/Solvents reporting unit.

(b)

Business realignment adjustment represents the reallocation of goodwill during 2014 as a result of the transfer of Adhesives and Intermediates/Solvents between the Specialty Ingredients and Performance Materials reportable segments. In the fourth quarter of 2014, an error of $32 million was identified in the amount of goodwill associated with Intermediates/Solvents that was originally reallocated in the third quarter of 2014. The amount of goodwill transferred from Specialty Ingredients to Performance Materials was revised from $71 million to $39 million to correct the error. Ashland does not believe that this revision was material to the previously filed financial information.

(c)	Relates to Valvoline Instant Oil ChangeSM acquisitions during 2015.

(d)	Divestiture caption represents the amounts of goodwill for the sale of Elastomers, Valvoline car care products and industrial biocides. See Note B for additional information.

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(a)	Divested trademarks and trade names during 2015 had gross carrying amounts of $6 million, $7 million and $11 million for Elastomers, Valvoline car care products and industrial biocides, respectively, and accumulated amortization of $5 million, $3 million and $3 million, respectively.

(b)	Divested intellectual property during 2015 had a gross carrying amount of $18 million with $5 million of accumulated amortization for Elastomers.

(c)	Divested customer relationships during 2015 had a gross carrying amount and accumulated amortization of $1 million each for Valvoline car care products.

(a)	During 2015, the potential funding for qualified receivables was reduced from $275 million to $250 million.

(b)	Other includes $28 million and $31 million of debt issuance cost discounts as of September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

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(a)	Includes $4 million and $50 million of accelerated amortization for debt issuance costs during 2015 and 2013, respectively, and the $52 million charge to terminate the interest rate swaps associated with the term loan A and term loan B facilities during 2013.

(b)	Represents investment income related to the restricted investments discussed in Note F.

(c)	Includes $9 million related to the early redemption premium payments for the tender and redemption of the 2016 senior notes during 2015 and a $4 million redemption premium payment related to the $78 million principal 9.125% senior notes redeemed during 2013.

(a)	Accelerated amortization of $4 million for debt issuance costs resulting from early redemption of the 2016 senior notes and the entrance into the 2015 Senior Credit Agreement.

(b)	Accelerated amortization of $47 million and $3 million resulted from the repayment of the 2011 Senior Credit Facility and the early paydown of Ashland’s remaining 9.125% senior notes, respectively.

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(a)	The table above excludes $13 million of lease commitments during 2013 that were related to the Water Technologies business that have been reclassified to discontinued operations due to its sale in July 2014.

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(a)	Gross net operating loss carryforwards will expire in future years as follows: $2 million in 2016, $13 million in 2017 and the remaining balance in other future years.

(b)	Gross net operating loss carryforwards include offset for uncertain tax positions of and will expire in future years as follows: $20 million in 2016, $38 million in 2017 and the remaining balance in other future years.

(c)	Credit carryforwards include offset for uncertain tax positions and consist primarily of foreign tax credits of $67 million expiring in future years beyond 2017 and alternative minimum tax credits of $12 million with no expiration date.

(d)	Valuation allowances primarily relate to certain state and foreign net operating loss carryforwards.

(e)	The total gross amount of goodwill as of September 30, 2015 expected to be deductible for tax purposes is $38 million.

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(a)	A significant component of the fluctuations within this caption relates to the annual remeasurements of the U.S. pension and other postretirement plans.

(b)

Prior year amounts for income (loss) from continuing operations before income taxes for the United States and Foreign line items have been revised to reflect a change in the classification of the elimination of foreign intercompany dividends.  There was no impact on the total of income (loss) from continuing operations before income taxes or on the computation of income tax expense (benefit) for the years ended September 30, 2014 and 2013 and therefore Ashland does not believe that this revision is material to the previously filed financial information.

(c)	2015 includes adjustments related to the sale of Valvoline Venezuela JV, Elastomers and the Biocides divestitures of $5 million, $4 million and $2 million respectively. 2014 tax adjustments associated with the Water Technologies business and ASK divestitures are a $39 million charge and $2 million gain respectively.

(d)	Related to foreign and state deferred tax asset valuation allowances/(releases).

(e)	2015 and 2013 include a benefit related to credits signed into law on a retroactive basis.

(f)	2014 and 2013 include expense of $5 million and $7 million, respectively, recorded for deferred tax adjustments, primarily attributable to state rate changes.

(g)	2014 includes a $168 million tax benefit related to the reversal of deferred tax liabilities for outside basis differences and other related matters and a $14 million expense recorded for a rate change in a foreign jurisdiction. 2013 includes a $17 million benefit recorded for a rate change in a foreign jurisdiction.

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(a)	Changes to the post-65 Ashland Medical plan resulted in negative plan amendments that are being amortized within the other postretirement benefits caption.

(b)

The plan assumptions discussed are a blended weighted-average rate for Ashland’s U.S. and non-U.S. plans.  The U.S. pension plan represented approximately 90% of the projected benefit obligation at September 30, 2015.  Other postretirement benefit plans consist of U.S. and Canada, with the U.S. plan representing approximately 93% of the accumulated postretirement benefit obligation at September 30, 2015.  Non-U.S. plans use assumptions generally consistent with those of U.S. plans.

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(a)	Includes qualified U.S. and non-U.S. pension plans.

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(a)

Net expense of $5 million, $4 million and $6 million for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively, relates to divested businesses which qualified for treatment as discontinued operations and for which certain environmental liabilities were retained by Ashland.  These amounts are classified within the income from discontinued operations caption of the Statements of Consolidated Comprehensive Income.

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(a)	Amortization of unrecognized prior service credits are included in the calculation of net periodic benefit costs (income) for pension and other postretirement plans. For specific financial statement captions impacted by the amortization see the table below.

(b)	Losses from the translation adjustment included in net income are attributable to foreign Water Technologies subsidiaries sold with the divestiture. These adjustments are recorded in the discontinued operations caption of the Statements of Consolidated Comprehensive Income.

(c)	Losses from interest rate hedges are recorded in the net interest and other financing expense caption of the Statements of Consolidated Comprehensive Income. See Note F for further information.

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(a)	The year ended September 30, 2015 included a $7 million award modification within performance shares that was designated as a cash item (see table on F-52 for further information) and $1 million of expense related primarily to cash-settled nonvested restricted stock awards.

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(a)	Exercise prices per share for SARs outstanding at September 30, 2015 ranged from $9.49 to $49.79 for 139 shares, from $51.86 to $55.73 for 329 shares, from $64.92 to $89.69 for 652 shares, and from $112.91 to $117.38 for 263 shares.  The weighted-average remaining contractual life of outstanding SARs and stock options was 6.8 years and exercisable SARs and stock options was 5.9 years.

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(a)	At the end of the performance period, the actual number of shares issued can range from zero to 200% of the target shares granted, which is assumed to be 100%.

(a)	The current year includes 26 additional shares from the fiscal 2012 through 2014 plan, 2014 includes 45 additional shares from the fiscal 2011 through 2013 plan and 2013 includes 18 additional shares from the fiscal 2010 through 2012 plan since a portion of each plans payout was in excess of the initial 100% target.

(b)	During the December 2014 quarter, Ashland modified certain awards of its performance shares. The awards were modified to provide that the instruments be paid in cash instead of stock. This change in payment designation caused Ashland to recognize $7 million in incremental stock-based compensation expense related to 84 shares modified during 2015.

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(a)	Includes sales for biocides through July 1, 2015 sale.

(b)	Includes sales only through December 1, 2014 sale.

(c)	Includes sales for car care products through June 30, 2015 sale.

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(a)	ASK joint venture sold during 2014.

(b)	Venezuela joint venture sold during 2015.

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(a)

Fourth quarter results for 2015 include a decrease in operating income of $246 million related to the loss on pension and postretirement benefit plan remeasurement ($97 million in cost of sales and $149 million in selling, general and administrative expenses), a decrease of $13 million for a customer claim, a decrease of $11 million related to the impairment on IPR&D assets associated with the ISP acquisition, a decrease of $6 million related to restructuring and a decrease of $3 million for an environmental reserve adjustment. Income tax benefit for the fourth quarter included $6 million of discrete tax income items.

(b)

Fourth quarter results for 2014 include a decrease in operating income of $317 million related to the loss on pension and postretirement benefit plan remeasurement ($97 million in cost of sales and $220 million in selling, general and administrative expenses), a decrease of $29 million related to restructuring and plant closure costs, a decrease of $5 million for foreign legal reserves and a decrease of $4 million related to the impairment on IPR&D assets associated with the ISP acquisition. Income tax benefit for the fourth quarter included $100 million of discrete tax income items including a $168 million reversal of a deferred tax liability related to an assertion change of the nature of unremitted earnings of foreign subsidiaries.

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