Feb 11 (Reuters) – Australia’s CSL reported a first‑half profit decline on Wednesday, hit by weaker albumin sales and policy pressures, and moved to expand its share buyback by $250 million in a bid to signal balance‑sheet strength and reassure markets.
Total revenue for the first half fell 4% to $8.33 billion, with its core plasma unit, CSL Behring, posting revenue of $5.5 billion, down 7% as immunoglobulin sales slipped 6% and albumin sales dropped 27%.
The biotechnology giant reported underlying net profit after tax attributable of $1.92 billion, on a constant currency basis, for the six months ended December 31, compared with $2.11 billion reported in the year-ago period.
CSL said the softer performance underscored the need to accelerate ongoing transformation measures, with the drugmaker pressing ahead with cost cuts and maintaining its full‑year outlook.
“We are clearly not satisfied with our performance and have implemented a number of initiatives to drive stronger growth going forward,” Ken Lim, CSL’s chief financial officer, said.
CSL said it has delivered about 60% of its targeted cost savings for fiscal 2026, largely through cuts in fixed research costs, lower infrastructure spending and the integration of its Behring and Vifor commercial and medical teams.
The company reaffirmed its forecast for fiscal 2026, expecting modest revenue growth and a return to mid-single-digit growth in underlying profit, excluding one-off restructuring costs and impairments.
Those restructuring efforts, however, came at a cost in the first half. CSL said it expects to book roughly $1.1 billion in after-tax, non-restructuring impairments for the full year, with almost all of that already recognised.
Its vaccine business, Seqirus, which is slated to be spun off into a separately listed company, reported total revenue of $1.6 billion, down 2% from last year, reflecting the absence of non-recurring avian influenza outbreak revenue booked in the prior year.
CSL, the world’s second-largest producer of flu vaccines, declared an interim dividend of $1.30 per share, unchanged from a year ago.
(Reporting by Roushni Nair and Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
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