CSL Ltd Annual Report 2021

CEO message Dear Shareholders, Despite the uncertainty of the last 18 months, CSL continues to deliver for those who need us most: our patients. We are privileged to be trusted to do this, and never take it for granted. The success we’ve achieved in delivering on our promise does not happen by chance. Every day more than 25,000 people go to work with this promise in mind. My own personal highlight for the past year has been the way CSL’s people have demonstrated resilience and agility in the face of disruption. They have been asked to work in different ways and in different settings, and throughout it all they have shown an unwavering resolve to keep our promise to patients. Every person who works at CSL carries a deep sense of purpose and meaning for their work. To that end, I was pleased to see CSL named in the Forbes’ list of the World’s Best Employers for the fourth year in a row. I would also like to extend my thanks to our donors, including our convalescent plasma donors, who have continued contributing towards the production of life-saving medicines. Resilient Foundations In the 2020/21 financial year, our resilient business and the dedication of our people and our partners once again delivered a strong result for our shareholders. Revenue increased by 13% to US$10,310 million and net profit was US$2.375 billion. Our balance sheet remains strong and we are well placed to continue our track record of success. The importance of diversification across our business units is clear in this result. The essential nature of our plasma-derived and recombinant products demonstrates that the global demand remains strong. However, plasma supply has been depressed by government lockdowns and stimulus packages, particularly in the United States. As society moves past the worst of the pandemic we have implemented a variety of measures in order to attract donors back to our centres, including offering higher donor compensation, leveraging technology to make the donor experience more efficient, and initiated a collaboration to deliver a new plasma collection platform. In response to these initiatives, we are starting to see a recovery in plasma volumes. However, this lower volume and the associated cost pressures will likely impact margins through the 2021/22 financial year. Regardless, the strong foundations of CSL remain in place and we are confident in our ability to resume our growth trajectory. Several years ago, we embarked on a turnaround program in our Seqirus business. Our past efforts to focus on Seqirus’ differentiated and high value product portfolio has allowed the business to thrive. It continues to be a great story for CSL and our shareholders. Revenue for this segment was up 34% for the year, driven by record demand for our products. Targeted innovation in cell-based influenza vaccines, on next generation self-amplifying mRNA technology for influenza, are promising and will contribute to a bright future for Seqirus. Like Dr McNamee, I am proud that we have stepped up to provide onshore COVID-19 vaccine manufacture for Australia. Research and development involves approaching problems in many different ways, managing for risk and doing everything possible for one significant outcome. The nature of developing medicines also involves failure and learning from those failures translates into future success. Taking multiple shots-on-goal to help solve the COVID-19 pandemic has been worth it and we will capture our learnings for future benefit. Ensuring our communities are vaccinated is one of the most powerful steps we can take to help the world recover, and we are proud of the contribution we have made to this effort. CSL Limited Annual Report 2020/21 4 1 Chair and CEOmessage