Dividends to Shareholders

On 15 April 2005, our shareholders received an interim dividend of 17 cents per share (fully franked). CSL’s final dividend of 30 cents per share (fully franked) and a special dividend of 10 cents per share franked to 1.78 cents per share will be paid on 10 October 2005.

It should be noted however, that due to an increasing proportion of Company revenue being generated offshore and increasing expenditure in Australia on research and development, CSL is unlikely to be in a position to deliver franked dividends next financial year.

CSL Group net profit after tax of $547 million included an estimated net profit after tax of $250 million from the sale of JRH Biosciences. Group sales revenue grew 67% to $2.75 billion as ZLB Behring completed its first full year of operations. Net operating cash flows improved 174% to $568 million.

In February 2005, we announced an on-market buy back of up to 10 million shares (5% of issued capital) which has since been completed at a total cost of $318 million. In June 2005, we announced that a second on-market buy back of up to eight million shares would be carried out in the next financial year. Our strong cash flows and balance sheet position underpin this latest buy back which will further benefit all shareholders by improving investment returns including earnings per share and return on equity.

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