Loss-making vaccine maker agrees investors 'frustrated'

An Australian healthcare giant that's trying to turn itself around after a torrid couple of years has accepted that its shareholders are frustrated.

The admission by chair Brian McNamee was made in CSL's annual report published on Thursday, just weeks after the blood plasma and vaccines supplier posted a shattering $3.7 billion annual loss.

"The board acknowledges that many shareholders are frustrated with the recent disappointing commercial and financial performance of the company," he wrote.

"We built up substantial fixed costs, we were slow to adapt to competitive pressures, our research and development efforts didn't deliver and some investment the company made did not perform."

The admission comes ahead of CSL's annual general meeting on October 27 in Melbourne, when its board will come face to face with shareholders.

Since July 2024 and August 2026, shares in CSL, which is best known in Australia for its groundbreaking Gardasil cervical cancer vaccine, tumbled by about 70 per cent.

The drop was driven by softening demand from its key markets in the US and China, a major restructure and a wave of asset downgrades.

In August, it reported an eye-watering $US2.6 billion ($A3.7 billion) annual net loss, against a profit of $US3 billion ($A4.2 billion) the year before.

The result took the brunt of $US7.1 billion ($A10 billion) in pre-tax writedowns, mostly linked to its CSL Vifor kidney treatment and iron deficiency business.

Vifor has struggled against generic competition and regulatory shifts since its 2022 acquisition by CSL.

It also ousted its former boss Paul McKenzie in 2025, putting board director Gordon Naylor in place as interim chief executive.

CSL wanted to earn back shareholder confidence, Mr McNamee said, before adding that the board had been encouraged by the actions taken by Mr Naylor so far.

The reassurance has given investors hope that the worst could be over and CSL shares rose by more than one per cent around lunch on Thursday to $176.36.

At the annual results announcements in August, Mr Naylor said the tough result marked the start of a reset for the company.