“Our profit result has been impacted by a volatile currency environment,” McKenzie said on a call with analysts on Wednesday morning.
He added that global demand for CSL’s products remains robust and the company’s research and development pipeline had “never been better”,with the first patient expected to take CSL’s treatment Hemgenix,the first FDA-approved gene therapy for hemophilia B,within the next few weeks.
While CSL had provided guidance for a foreign currency headwind of about $US175 million ($258 million) in February,chief financial officer Joy Linton said the company now expected a headwind of between $US230 million and $US250 million ($340 million to $369 million).
“In the second half of the year,so between December and May,the euro improved against the US dollar,but there wasn’t much movement in the yuan,” Linton said,noting they were the biggest components of the company’s currencies pairs.
“In the back part of the year,the two currencies that moved most were the pound to the US Dollar and the Australian dollar to the US dollar. Currencies have moved against us,and the greater the currency headwind in the 2023 financial year,the lower our starting points growth point financial year 2024.”
Shares in the company plunged 8 per cent in early trade and were down 6.9 per cent to $287.3 at the close on Wednesday.