The CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) share price will be in focus today following the release of the biotherapeutics company's FY 2023 results.
Let's take a look and see how the company performed over the 12 months.
CSL share price on watch after guidance beat
- Revenue up 31% in constant currency to US$13.31 billion
- Net profit after tax before amortisation (NPATA) up 20% in constant currency to US$2.86 billion
- Reported NPATA up 10% to US$2.61 billion
- Full-year dividend up 6% to US$2.36 per share
- FY 2024 guidance reaffirmed
What happened during FY 2023?
For the 12 months ended 30 June, CSL reported a sizeable 30% increase in constant currency revenue to US$13.31 billion.
This was driven by a 12% increase in CSL Behring revenue to US$9.29 billion, a 9% jump in CSL Seqirus revenue to US$2,031 million, and a US$1,989 million 11-month contribution from the CSL Vifor business.
In respect to the key CSL Behring operation, all sides of the business performed positively during the financial year. Immunoglobulin product sales jumped 21%, Albumin sales rose 11%, Haemophilia sales increased 8%, and Specialty products sales grew 6%.
The good news is that the underlying demand for immunoglobulins remains strong due to significant patient needs in core indications. More good news is that plasma collection volumes rose 31% and now sit at record levels. The cost of collecting plasma is also easing and is down 17% from the March 2022 peak.
CSL continues to invest heavily in its research and development (R&D) activities. It spent US$1,232 million on R&D in FY 2023, which was an increase of 22% over the prior corresponding period.
Selling and marketing expenses rose a sizeable 58% to US$1,454 million. Though, this reflects the inclusion of the CSL Vifor business. Excluding this, the company's selling and marketing expenses were flat for the year.
This ultimately led to CSL reporting underlying NPATA growth of 20% to US$2.86 billion in constant currency. This was ahead of its guidance range of US$2.7 billion to US$2.8 billion.
CSL share price has a tough year
It has been an uncharacteristically tough year for the CSL share price. As you can see below, over the last 12 months, it has lost over 10% of its value.
Management commentary
CSL's CEO and Managing Director, Dr Paul McKenzie, was pleased with the company's performance during a challenging time. He said:
Our strong performance in the 2023 financial year was delivered against a challenging operating environment. Our CSL Behring business rebounded strongly driven by exceptional growth in immunoglobulin sales and record plasma collections.
While we have not been immune to inflation and currency headwinds, our focus on improving efficiencies across our global network of manufacturing sites has helped reduce the impact. We remained focused on executing on our strategy of delivering innovative medicines to best serve our patients and protect public health. This, combined with the efforts of our people is now delivering positive momentum for CSL and our patients in more than 100 countries.
Outlook
The good news for the CSL share price today is that management has reaffirmed its FY 2024 guidance for NPATA of ~US$2.9 billion to US$3 billion in constant currency, with revenue growth of 9% to 11%. McKenzie said:
For FY24, revenue growth is anticipated to be approximately 9-11% over FY23 at constant currency. CSL's underlying profit, NPATA for FY24 is anticipated to be in the range of approximately $2.9 billion to $3.0 billion at constant currency, representing growth over FY23 of approximately 13-17%."
A key driver of this is expected to be immunoglobulins demand. The CEO notes that the "strong growth in our immunoglobulins franchise is expected to continue following record plasma collections in FY23."
