Irate CSL investors blast downgrade delay as shares sink in ‘brutal’ selloff
The biotech giant delivered a hammer blow of a guidance downgrade on Monday morning. Shareholders wanted it three months ago.
Three months ago to the day, CSL was hit by a multi-day selloff after the abrupt removal of chief executive Paul McKenzie on the eve of the biotech’s half-year earnings.
Some of the company’s institutional shareholders think that should have been the moment to roll back its full-year expectations, instead of digging in on overly ambitious targets.
That view was vindicated, albeit unhappily, on Monday as CSL shares took yet another trouncing after the group announced a sharp downgrade to full-year guidance and a USD5 billion ($6.8 billion) impairment charge following a 90-day review.
“This was the downgrade that should have occurred in February,” Wilson Asset Management deputy portfolio manager Anna Milne, who holds CSL shares for clients, told Capital Brief.
