Australian pharmaceutical giant CSL will cut as many as 3000 jobs and spin-off its flu vaccine arm into a separate business in a bid to shave $500 million from its bottom line.
The biotechnology firm announced the shake-up at its annual financial results call on Tuesday, where its chief executive dismissed concerns about US tariffs, but warned about the impact of falling vaccination levels.
The company, which is the third largest in Australia, also revealed its revenue rose by five per cent during the last financial year and its profit after tax grew by 14 per cent to reach $US3 billion ($A4.6 billion).
Despite its rising profit, CSL chief executive Paul McKenzie told investors the global pharmaceutical market had become a volatile environment and the company would need to adapt to meet its financial goals and simplify operations.
Cost reductions would include cutting up to 15 per cent of its workforce worldwide over the next three years, and closing 22 US plasma centres over the next 12 months.
“We are pleased with this performance but we know we must rapidly adapt to position ourselves well into the next decade in a constantly evolving operating environment,” Mr McKenzie said.
“We will target more than half a billion US dollars in savings by the end of fiscal year ’28.”
The company would also seek to “de-merge” its flu vaccination arm, Seqirus, as part of the shake-up, to become a separate ASX-listed company chaired by former CSL Seqirus president Gordon Naylor.
The move would come at a challenging time for flu vaccinations worldwide after low rates of take-up in some countries, Mr McKenzie said, but with signs that could improve.
“We view the softness in the US seasonal category as highly irrational based on the vaccine risk-reward profiles and the scale of disease burdens which this year reached a 15-year high,” he said.
“In the US… we are encouraged by the recent positive universal recommendation by (the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices), a clear sign that influenza is not going away and it still has severe impact on public health.”
Potential pharmaceutical tariffs floated by US President Donald Trump were also unlikely to affect CSL, Mr McKenzie told investors, due to its operations in the US.
Mr Trump threatened to impose tariffs of up to 250 per cent on drug imports from Australia earlier this month, though has yet to confirm details or a timeline for the plan.
Total revenue for CSL rose to $US15.5 billion during the 2025 financial year, and the company forecasts revenue to grow between four and five per cent over the 2026 financial year.
The company will pay a final dividend of $US1.62 to shareholders, up by 12 per cent.
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