Other straw members have covered CAL in better depth than I can (thank you) but one interesting snippet I found that points to a brighter future was this:

One tailwind here has been the Rika plasma collection system, which was developed by the Japanese firm Terumo and CSL has exclusive rights to. This machine makes donations 30% faster on average versus the previous standard. 

Not only that, Terumo and CSL’s iNomi platform arrives at a safe amount of plasma to take from each donor individually – as opposed to taking the same amount from everybody. This has increased the average plasma donation by 10%. 

As CSL completed rolling out Rika and iNomi across its network in June 2025, it is enjoying faster and larger collections. But as there is a lag of up to a year between plasma collections and sales, Shane says the full benefits aren’t showing yet

Management reiterated its expectation for plasma gross margins to recover by 600 basis points from the 51% achieved in fiscal 2025. A lift to pre-pandemic levels of 57% on $11 billion plus of sales could deliver strong earnings growth, even if revenue growth slips. 

These efficiency gains have also allowed CSL to press on with reducing its number of collection centres by 7%. Shane says that the fixed costs saved by doing this can be used to fuel further innovation and fund shareholder returns through buybacks

HELD