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ASX snaps three-day winning streak as CSL plunges

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The news: The Australian sharemarket finished lower, dragged by pharmaceutical giant CSL, which saw its share price plummet after announcing plans to axe 15% of its workforce — around 3,000 jobs — and flagged one-off restructuring costs of more than half a billion US dollars.

The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.7% to end at 8,896.2 despite seven out of 11 sectors finishing in green.

Healthcare (-8.7%) was by far the worst performing sector as CSL (-16.9%) plunged. The biotech giant also announced plans to sell off its vaccine business Seqirus by the end of FY26, with the various restructuring initiatives expected to generate annualised cost savings of USD500 million ($771 million) to USD550 million over the next three years.

The company also said it would commence a $750 million multi-year on-market share buyback program in FY26. CSL made these announcements alongside its FY25 result, which included a 17% year-on-year increase in full-year statutory profit.

Biggest movers:

  • Reliance Worldwide (-6.7%) – The plumbing supplies manufacturer posted a 13.5% year-on-year increase in full-year profit but did not provide revenue or earnings guidance for FY26 due to near-term economic uncertainty.
  • HMC Capital (-6.6%) – Issued FY26 guidance for pre-tax earnings of 40 cents per share, lower than the 56 cents per share achieved in FY25. Also reported full-year earnings, including that statutory profit after tax more than doubled.
  • Sims (-5.7%) – More than doubled its full-year dividend following a modest lift in profit. However, the metal recycling firm’s ANZ Metals business faced significant headwinds including a global oversupply of finished and semi-finished steel.
  • Centuria Capital Group (+10%) – Reported a 6.5% year-on-year increase in operating profit after tax to $100.84 million in FY25.
  • ARB Corporation (+8.6%) – Net profit after tax fell 5% year on year, but revenue lifted 5.8% and the company declared a special dividend alongside its final dividend.
  • Seek (+8%) – Swung to a full-year profit of $238.2 million after posting a $59.9 million loss in the preceding year amid momentum in Asian markets and issued FY26 guidance that is “arguably better than expected,” according to an E&P Financial Group analyst.
  • Monadelphous (+3.7%) – Generated $83.7 million net profit after tax in financial year 2025, a 34.6% increase year on year amid an increase in construction activity.
  • Challenger (+2.6%) – Reported a 48% increase in statutory net profit amid record retail lifetime annuity sales and record Japanese annuity sales.

Other earnings news:

  • BHP (+1.6%) – Reported a 6% increase in statutory net profit after tax to USD9.8 billion ($15.1 billion) for FY25 after meeting its production guidance across all assets, and setting fresh annual output records in copper and iron ore.
  • Woodside (-2.8%) – Posted a 32% drop in first-half net profit after tax to USD1.32 billion ($2 billion) and was in line with expectations. The company’s net debt position came in below expectations.

Other companies that reported earnings were Deterra Royalties (+0.7%), Region Group (+0.4%), Judo Capital (+0.3%) and Hub24 (+0.1%).

Deals news:

  • APA Group (-1.3%) – Entered an agreement to divest its networks business to Australia Gas Infrastructure Group for an expected $47 million.
  • Santos (-2.6%) – Does not expect to sign a binding agreement to be acquired by a consortium led by Abu Dhabi’s XRG, for an implied equity value of $30 billion, before the end of an exclusive due diligence period on 22 August.
  • SkyCity – Entered a trading halt ahead of a "material announcement regarding a capital raise".

Other news:

  • Bank of Queensland (-0.1%) – Chair Warwick Negus will retire from the board, effective 24 October, with non-executive director Andrew Fraser appointed as his successor.
  • TPG Telecom (-2.3%) – Is investigating a data breach affecting iiNet customers. Preliminary investigations found that 280,000 active iiNet email addresses and 20,000 active iiNet landline phone numbers were stolen.

What’s ahead:

  • The Reserve Bank of New Zealand will make a decision on the official cash rate and issue a quarterly monetary policy statement tomorrow at 12:00pm AEST.


By Brandon How