CSL Drops After Delaying Seqirus Spinoff on US Vaccine Market

CSL Ltd. shares slumped after Australia’s largest drugmaker scrapped plans to complete a demerger of its Seqirus vaccines business by June 2026, citing heightened volatility in the US influenza vaccine market that it said would prevent the move from realizing full value for shareholders.

The stock sank as much as 17% to its lowest since December 2018 after Chairman Brian McNamee told the company’s annual meeting in Melbourne on Tuesday that while CSL remains committed to separating Seqirus, it “is no longer targeting completion of a demerger in financial year 2026” and will revisit the timing “when we are confident that market conditions would support the maximization of shareholder value.”