The market has since embraced the possible revenue opportunities on offer from a number of new treatments in Vifor’s pipeline that have yet to come to market.
Investors will have to wait longer for details on Vifor’s financial performance, however. CSL reports earnings on August 17, and because the deal will have only recently settled it will not be providing financial guidance for the business for 2023.
Analysts initially had a mixed response to the purchase, cautious about the big price tag paid but have since embraced the possible revenue opportunities on offer from a number of new treatments in Vifor’s pipeline.
Any financial guidance provided by CSL when releasing 2022 earnings will not include the Vifor business.
Instead, an investor briefing with CSL and Vifor executives will be held in October.
Vifor’s current chief commercial officer Hervé Gisserot will step into the role of general manager for the business once the purchase is completed.
Gisserot only joined the business in January after more than a decade at GlaxoSmithKline.
All eyes will be on CSL’s plasma collection results when it reports full-year results in a fortnight, with analysts wanting to see evidence that foot traffic into collection centers has bounced back after years of disruptions.
Blood plasma is the key ingredient in several of the company’s flagship products, but disruption of collections over the past two years due to the pandemic has left the company with shortfalls.
Recent foot traffic data suggests that more donors were entering centers in the last quarter of the year. The rollout of a new donor collection system called Rika is also hoped to increase the efficiency of collections.
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“We see the earnings growth profile for CSL as attractive to FY24, supported by an assumed recovery in plasma collections, benefits from the Rika platform and earnings contributions from Vifor,” Macquarie analysts said in a note to clients last week.
CSL shares are up 7.3 per cent over the past month, closing at $294.91 on Monday.
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