By Sherin Sunny and Nikita Maria Jino
Aug 18 (Reuters) – CSL reported better-than-expected annual underlying earnings on Tuesday and forecast growth in 2027 on the back of its core plasma division, sending the Australian biotechnology giant’s shares up 18% in their best intraday session since 2001.
CSL, among the world’s top flu vaccine makers, posted underlying net profit after tax attributable of $3.14 billion on a constant-currency basis, ahead of Visible Alpha’s consensus estimate of $3.08 billion.
The former government laboratory, which listed in 1994 and later became a stock market darling, forecast underlying earnings growth of about 5% in fiscal 2027, well above market expectations of a meagre 0.7% growth.
Shares rose as much as 18.1% to A$159.01 by 0050 GMT, their biggest intraday gain since June 2001, and hit their highest level since late February 2026.
CSL said its plasma therapies unit CSL Behring is expected to post mid-single-digit revenue growth in the 2027 financial year, compared with a 1% drop in 2026, on growing demand for immunoglobulin therapies and efforts to improve productivity.
CSL, which lost billions of dollars in market value over the past year linked to a series of challenges, announced final dividend of $1.62 a share, unchanged from last year, and unveiled a A$1.1 billion ($781.88 million) share buyback programme.
“The market is focusing on three positives: the maintained dividend, the fresh share buyback plan, and the clearer forward guidance. This has the feel of a ‘bad news is largely out’ reaction,” Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade, said.
“After a year of guidance cuts, management changes, and heavy impairments, the market is treating the result as confirmation that the worst of the reset is behind the company, rather than a fresh negative surprise.”
On a statutory basis, CSL reported net loss after tax of $2.6 billion, a turnaround from a $3 billion profit last year, pressured by pre-tax impairments of $5.5 billion in the second half of the year, and pre-tax restructuring costs of $799 million.
The loss was the company’s first since listing on the ASX in 1994, reflecting the impact of the impairments and restructuring charges.
($1 = 1.4069 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Sherin Sunny and Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
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