Oct 14 (Reuters) - Australian biotech giant CSL Ltd CSL.AX raised the lower end of its full-year profit forecast by 3% as demand for vaccines, plasma and recombinant products rise amid the coronavirus pandemic.
CSL now expects net profit in fiscal 2021 to be between $2.17 billion to $2.27 billion at constant currency, implying growth of 3%-8% over the previous year, compared to its initial forecast of $2.10 billion to $2.27 billion. Executive Officer Paul Perreault, in an address to shareholders at its annual general meeting, said CSL expects its influenza vaccine business Seqirus to see strong demand into fiscal 2021 as governments stock up on vaccines to protect their populations.
Perreault also said revenue is expected to rise between 6%-10% in fiscal 2021.
Demand at its plasma and recombinant product business, CSL Behring, is expected to stay strong, Perreault said, with all regions except Asia seeing double-digit growth in 2020.
CSL is developing its own COVID-19 vaccine with the University of Queensland and has inked agreements with the Australian government and AstraZeneca AZN.L and Oxford University to make their candidate.