Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ:EVGN) (TASE:EVGN), a leading biotechnology
company developing novel products for life science markets through
the use of a unique Computational Predictive Biology (CPB)
platform, announced today its financial results for the fourth
quarter and full year ending December 31, 2017.
Ofer Haviv, Evogene's President and CEO,
stated: “2017 was an important inflection point in our
Company’s development as we began to see the initial fruits of our
pioneering research and development efforts over the past few
years. By year end, we had established robust product
pipelines with strong industry alliances in each of our
Agricultural divisions- Ag-Seeds, Ag-Biologicals and Ag-Chemicals.
In addition, we initiated our first entry into human therapeutics
with the establishment of our subsidiary Biomica, alongside our
existing subsidiary - Evofuel.
“The next step in our corporate strategy and
roadmap is to further develop each of these current market focused
activities into “stand-alone” units, including their own R&D
teams which have full access to utilize the CPB infrastructure for
their market area. This led us to establish a new corporate
structure being implemented earlier this year, with the result that
each of our three agriculture divisions and our two subsidiaries is
now operating under the direction of its own general manager and
business development staff.
“We are already seeing the advantages of this
new structure as we aggressively pursue both internal programs and
collaborations in these separate and distinct market areas. In
addition, this stand-alone presentation should also make the
individual value of each division – and therefore Evogene as a
whole - clearer as each has comparable tier companies focusing in
that market area.
“In order to accelerate the progression into
full stand-alone units, in 2018 I would like to see each general
manager and his team continue to aggressively develop their product
pipeline towards commercialization as well as form additional
collaborations with industry leaders. We look forward to reporting
our continuing progress during 2018.”
More information about the above is provided in
a CEO Letter to Shareholders issued today which can be found on our
website.
Key Evogene highlights for 2017
included:
Ag-Seeds Division:
- Yield and environmental stress Collaboration with Monsanto:
Evogene has successfully completed the gene discovery phase,
and the collaboration is now focused on progressing selected gene
candidates through additional testing in Monsanto’s product
development pipeline in corn and soy.
- Disease Resistance Collaboration with Monsanto: An important
milestone was achieved in our Fusarium collaboration with Monsanto,
with Evogene genes showing resistance to Fusarium in model plants.
The top prioritized genes are advancing to tests in Monsanto’s corn
pipeline.
- Collaboration with Rahan Meristem: The collaboration achieved
positive results in 2nd year field trials for Black Sigatoka
resistant bananas, which are now being leveraged through genome
editing.
Ag-Biologicals Division:
- Bio-Stimulant collaboration with DuPont-Pioneer: Evogene
entered a collaboration with DuPont-Pioneer to bring to market, in
a broad acre approach, bio-stimulant coated corn seeds. This
collaboration is based on the achievements of an internal product
program for bio-stimulants. The next step in the collaboration will
be field tests undertaken by DuPont-Pioneer.
- In January 2018, Evogene announced positive results in a second
year field trial conducted by Evogene in 2017. The tested
bio-stimulant seed treatments demonstrated up to 20% increases in
corn yield under moderate drought conditions.
Ag-Chemicals Division:
- Novel herbicide collaboration with BASF: The collaboration is
progressing according to plan.
- Internal novel Mode-of-Action herbicide program: Evogene
continued to integrate product development criteria to optimize 10
validated chemical compounds, computationally predicted to inhibit
8 Evogene discovered herbicidal protein targets. In February 2018,
Evogene announced an important step in the advancement of this
program: positive results with multiple ‘families’ of Evogene
predicted chemical compounds demonstrating improved herbicidal
effectiveness in lab and greenhouse experiments.
- Initiation of internal novel insecticides product program
focusing on key nerve & muscle targets.
Evofuel (wholly owned
subsidiary) - focused on development and commercialization of
castor seeds:
- Evofuel together with its partner achieved a breakthrough in
terms of mechanical harvesting capabilities, which has been a major
bottleneck in the commercialization of castor seeds.
Biomica (subsidiary) - focused
on the discovery and development of human microbiome-based
therapeutics:
- During 2017 Biomica was established by Evogene together with
co-founder Prof. Yehuda Ringel, Biomica CSO, Chief Division of
Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Meir Medical Center,
Israel.
- In February 2018, Evogene announced the appointment of Dr.
Elran Haber as CEO of Biomica.
Financial results for the period ending
December 31, 2017
Cash Position: As of
December 31, 2017, the Company had $71.8 million in cash,
short-term bank deposits and marketable securities, representing a
net cash usage of $4.1 million for the fourth quarter and $16.4
million for full year ending December 31, 2017. The Company does
not have bank debts.
Assuming the currently expected course of
business and no new revenue sources from existing or new
collaborations, in 2018 Evogene expects net cash usage of $14 to
$16 million.
Revenues primarily consist
of research and development payments, reflecting R&D cost
reimbursement under certain of our collaboration agreements. The
majority of these agreements also provide for development milestone
payments and royalties or other forms of revenue sharing from
successfully developed products.
Revenues for the full year of 2017 were $3.4
million, in comparison to $6.5 million in the full year of 2016.
Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2017 were $0.7 million, in
comparison to revenues of $1.2 million for the fourth quarter in
2016. The decline in revenues reflects the net decrease in research
and development cost reimbursement, in accordance with the work
plans under Evogene's various collaboration agreements. This
decline is mainly due to the advancement of our collaboration
agreement with Monsanto, from gene discovery to pre-development
efforts, resulting in reduction of activity scope. Looking forward,
we expect this revenue trend to continue.
During the full year of 2017 we saw a negative
impact on our expenses due to the depreciation of the USD in
comparison to the Israeli Shekel. Our expenses, mostly salaries,
are denominated in Israeli Shekels while our reporting currency is
USD.
Cost of revenues mainly consist
of collaboration related R&D expenses. Cost of revenues for the
full year of 2017 were $2.8 million in comparison to $5.6 million
in the full year of 2016. Cost of revenues for the fourth quarter
of 2017 were $0.6 million, in comparison to $1.1 million in the
fourth quarter of 2016. The decrease related primarily to the
decrease in revenues from R&D cost reimbursement for such
periods.
R&D expenses for the full
year of 2017 were $17.0 million in comparison to $16.4 million in
the full year of 2016. R&D expenses for the fourth quarter of
2017 remained stable at $4.7 million in comparison to in the fourth
quarter in 2016.
Operating loss for the full
year of 2017 was $21.9 million, in comparison to an operating loss
of $21.1 million for the full year of 2016. Operating loss for the
fourth quarter of 2017 was $6.0 million in comparison to $6.2
million in the fourth quarter in 2016. The increase in operating
loss for the full year was mainly due to the decrease in revenues
and an increase in R&D expenses.
The net financing income for the full year of
2017 was $1.1 million in comparison to $1.5 million in the
corresponding period. This decrease is due to relatively high
capital gains derived mainly from the company's marketable
securities in the first half of 2016.
Net loss for the full year of
2017 was $20.8 million in comparison to $19.6 million in the full
year of 2016. The increase in the net loss was primarily due to the
decrease in revenues, an increase in R&D expenses and the
decrease in net financing income.
Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2017 was $6.2
million compared to the net loss of $6.6 million in the comparable
quarter in 2016, the decrease in loss was due to a decrease in
expenses and a decrease in net financing expenses.
Conference Call & Webcast
Details:
Evogene management will host a conference call
to discuss the results at 09:00 AM Eastern time, 16:00 Israel time.
To access the conference call, please dial 1-888-668-9141 toll free
from the United States, or +972-3-918-0610 internationally. Access
to the call will also be available via live webcast through the
Company’s website at www.evogene.com.
A replay of the conference call will be
available approximately three hours following the completion of the
call. To access the replay, please dial 1-888-326-9310 toll free
from the United States, or +972-3-925-5901 internationally. The
replay will be accessible through February 28, 2018, and an archive
of the webcast will be available on the Company’s website through
March 9, 2018.
About Evogene Ltd.:Evogene
(NASDAQ, TASE: EVGN) is a leading biotechnology company developing
novel products for major life science markets through the use of a
unique predictive biology platform incorporating deep scientific
understandings and advanced computational technologies. This
platform is utilized by the Company to discover and develop
innovative ag-chemical, ag-biological and ag-seed products (GM and
non GM), and by two subsidiaries; Evofuel, focused on castor seeds,
and Biomica, focused on human microbiome therapeutics. Through its
collaborations with world-leading agricultural companies such as
BASF, Bayer, DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta, Evogene has licensed
genes, small molecules and microbes to partners under milestone and
royalty bearing agreements. For more information, please visit
www.evogene.com
Forward Looking Statements:This
press release contains "forward-looking statements" relating to
future events. These statements may be identified by words such as
"may", "could", “expects”, "intends", “anticipates”, “plans”,
“believes”, “scheduled”, “estimates” or words of similar meaning.
Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates,
projections and assumptions, describe opinions about future events,
involve certain risks and uncertainties which are difficult to
predict and are not guarantees of future performance. Therefore,
actual future results, performance or achievements of Evogene may
differ materially from what is expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, many of
which beyond Evogene's control, including, without limitation,
those risk factors contained in Evogene’s reports filed with the
appropriate securities authority. Evogene disclaims any obligation
or commitment to update these forward-looking statements to reflect
future events or developments or changes in expectations,
estimates, projections and assumptions.
Contact:Nir Zalik IR/PR
ManagerE: IR@evogene.comT: (+972)-8-931-1963
US Investor RelationsVivian Cervantes PCG
AdvisoryE: vivian@pcgadvisory.comT: 646-863-6274
|
|
|
CONSOLIDATED
STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION |
|
|
U.S. dollars in
thousands (except share and per share data) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
2017 |
|
|
|
2016 |
|
|
|
Unaudited |
|
Audited |
CURRENT ASSETS: |
|
|
|
|
Cash and
cash equivalents |
|
$ |
3,435 |
|
|
$ |
3,236 |
|
Restricted cash |
|
|
47 |
|
|
|
47 |
|
Marketable securities |
|
|
59,940 |
|
|
|
71,738 |
|
Short-term bank deposits |
|
|
8,380 |
|
|
|
13,137 |
|
Trade
receivables |
|
|
132 |
|
|
|
169 |
|
Other
receivables |
|
|
857 |
|
|
|
1,163 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
72,791 |
|
|
|
89,490 |
|
LONG-TERM ASSETS: |
|
|
|
|
Long-term deposits |
|
|
19 |
|
|
|
13 |
|
Property, plant and equipment, net |
|
|
4,792 |
|
|
|
6,483 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4,811 |
|
|
|
6,496 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
77,602 |
|
|
$ |
95,986 |
|
CURRENT LIABILITIES: |
|
|
|
|
Trade
payables |
|
$ |
1,110 |
|
|
$ |
1,330 |
|
Other
payables |
|
|
2,934 |
|
|
|
2,803 |
|
Liabilities in respect of government grants |
|
|
104 |
|
|
|
125 |
|
Deferred
revenues and other advances |
|
|
516 |
|
|
|
967 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4,664 |
|
|
|
5,225 |
|
LONG-TERM LIABILITIES: |
|
|
|
|
Liabilities in respect of government grants |
|
|
3,438 |
|
|
|
3,303 |
|
Deferred
revenues and other advances |
|
|
89 |
|
|
|
138 |
|
Severance pay liability, net |
|
|
33 |
|
|
|
31 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3,560 |
|
|
|
3,472 |
|
SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY: |
|
|
|
|
Ordinary
shares of NIS 0.02 par value:Authorized − 150,000,000 ordinary
shares; Issued and outstanding –25,750,547 and 25,480,809 shares at
December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively |
|
|
142 |
|
|
|
141 |
|
Share
premium and other capital reserve |
|
|
186,268 |
|
|
|
183,342 |
|
Accumulated deficit |
|
|
(117,032 |
) |
|
|
(96,194 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
69,378 |
|
|
|
87,289 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
77,602 |
|
|
$ |
95,986 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF PROFIT OR
LOSS |
U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share
data) |
|
|
|
Year endedDecember
31, |
|
Three months endedDecember
31, |
|
|
|
2017 |
|
|
|
2016 |
|
|
|
2017 |
|
|
|
2016 |
|
|
|
Unaudited |
|
Audited |
|
Unaudited |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Revenues |
|
$ |
3,381 |
|
|
$ |
6,540 |
|
|
$ |
734 |
|
|
$ |
1,180 |
|
Cost
of revenues |
|
|
2,845 |
|
|
|
5,639 |
|
|
|
634 |
|
|
|
1,131 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross
profit |
|
|
536 |
|
|
|
901 |
|
|
|
100 |
|
|
|
49 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating expenses: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Research and development, net |
|
|
16,987 |
|
|
|
16,405 |
|
|
|
4,668 |
|
|
|
4,735 |
|
Business development |
|
|
1,686 |
|
|
|
1,696 |
|
|
|
422 |
|
|
|
471 |
|
General and administrative |
|
|
3,810 |
|
|
|
3,889 |
|
|
|
1,029 |
|
|
|
995 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
operating expenses |
|
|
22,483 |
|
|
|
21,990 |
|
|
|
6,119 |
|
|
|
6,201 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating loss |
|
|
(21,947 |
) |
|
|
(21,089 |
) |
|
|
(6,019 |
) |
|
|
(6,152 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Financing income |
|
|
2,125 |
|
|
|
2,424 |
|
|
|
356 |
|
|
|
138 |
|
Financing expenses |
|
|
(1,005 |
) |
|
|
(891 |
) |
|
|
(561 |
) |
|
|
(614 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loss
before taxes on income |
|
|
(20,827 |
) |
|
|
(19,556 |
) |
|
|
(6,224 |
) |
|
|
(6,628 |
) |
Taxes on
income |
|
|
11 |
|
|
|
36 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
15 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net
loss |
|
$ |
(20,838 |
) |
|
$ |
(19,592 |
) |
|
$ |
(6,224 |
) |
|
$ |
(6,643 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basic
and diluted loss per share |
|
$ |
(0.81 |
) |
|
$ |
(0.77 |
) |
|
$ |
(0.24 |
) |
|
$ |
(0.26 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH
FLOWS |
U.S. dollars in thousands |
|
|
|
Year
endedDecember 31, |
|
Three months endedDecember
31, |
|
|
|
2017 |
|
|
|
2016 |
|
|
|
2017 |
|
|
|
2016 |
|
|
|
Unaudited |
|
Audited |
|
Unaudited |
Cash flows from operating activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net
loss |
|
$ |
(20,838 |
) |
|
$ |
(19,592 |
) |
|
$ |
(6,224 |
) |
|
$ |
(6,643 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating
activities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Adjustments to the profit or loss items: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Depreciation |
|
|
2,145 |
|
|
|
2,279 |
|
|
|
521 |
|
|
|
516 |
|
Share-based compensation |
|
|
2,244 |
|
|
|
2,943 |
|
|
|
596 |
|
|
|
607 |
|
Net
financing expense (income) |
|
|
(1,454 |
) |
|
|
(1,688 |
) |
|
|
125 |
|
|
|
480 |
|
Loss
from sale of property, plant and equipment |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
39 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
22 |
|
Taxes
on income |
|
|
11 |
|
|
|
36 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
15 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2,946 |
|
|
|
3,609 |
|
|
|
1,242 |
|
|
|
1,640 |
|
Changes in asset and liability items: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Decrease
(increase) in trade receivables |
|
|
37 |
|
|
|
2,506 |
|
|
|
836 |
|
|
|
(69 |
) |
Decrease
(increase) in other receivables |
|
|
221 |
|
|
|
(100 |
) |
|
|
44 |
|
|
|
567 |
|
Decrease
(increase) in long-term deposits |
|
|
(6 |
) |
|
|
9 |
|
|
|
(4 |
) |
|
|
1 |
|
Increase
(decrease) in trade payables |
|
|
(86 |
) |
|
|
(215 |
) |
|
|
295 |
|
|
|
144 |
|
Increase
(decrease) in other payables |
|
|
136 |
|
|
|
(303 |
) |
|
|
258 |
|
|
|
112 |
|
Increase
in severance pay liability, net |
|
|
2 |
|
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
Decrease
in deferred revenues and other advances |
|
|
(500 |
) |
|
|
(81 |
) |
|
|
(505 |
) |
|
|
(503 |
) |
Increase
in liabilities in respect of government grants |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
115 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(196 |
) |
|
|
1,936 |
|
|
|
925 |
|
|
|
253 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash
received (paid) during the period for: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest received |
|
|
2,173 |
|
|
|
2,360 |
|
|
|
491 |
|
|
|
522 |
|
Taxes
paid |
|
|
(14 |
) |
|
|
(6 |
) |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
(4 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net cash
used in operating activities |
|
|
(15,929 |
) |
|
|
(11,693 |
) |
|
|
(3,566 |
) |
|
|
(4,232 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH
FLOWS |
U.S. dollars in thousands |
|
|
|
Year endedDecember
31, |
|
Three months endedDecember
31, |
|
|
|
2017 |
|
|
|
2016 |
|
|
|
2017 |
|
|
|
2016 |
|
|
|
Unaudited |
|
Audited |
|
Unaudited |
Cash
flows from investing activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Purchase of property, plant and equipment |
|
$ |
(590 |
) |
|
$ |
(808 |
) |
|
$ |
(148 |
) |
|
$ |
(97 |
) |
Proceeds from sale of marketable securities |
|
|
22,737 |
|
|
|
23,926 |
|
|
|
8,925 |
|
|
|
6,734 |
|
Purchase of marketable securities |
|
|
(11,659 |
) |
|
|
(24,561 |
) |
|
|
(5,451 |
) |
|
|
(6,985 |
) |
Proceeds
from bank deposits, net |
|
|
4,757 |
|
|
|
5,466 |
|
|
|
1,137 |
|
|
|
1,921 |
|
Proceeds
from sale of property, plant and equipment |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net
cash provided by investing activities |
|
|
15,245 |
|
|
|
4,028 |
|
|
|
4,463 |
|
|
|
1,578 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash
Flows from Financing Activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proceeds from exercise of options |
|
|
683 |
|
|
|
186 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
43 |
|
Proceeds from government grants |
|
|
339 |
|
|
|
802 |
|
|
|
73 |
|
|
|
398 |
|
Repayment of government grants |
|
|
(208 |
) |
|
|
(333 |
) |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net cash
provided by financing activities |
|
|
814 |
|
|
|
655 |
|
|
|
74 |
|
|
|
441 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exchange
rate differences - cash and cash equivalent balances |
|
|
69 |
|
|
|
25 |
|
|
|
7 |
|
|
|
10 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Increase
(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents |
|
|
199 |
|
|
|
(6,985 |
) |
|
|
978 |
|
|
|
(2,203 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash and
cash equivalents, beginning of the period |
|
|
3,236 |
|
|
|
10,221 |
|
|
|
2,457 |
|
|
|
5,439 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash and
cash equivalents, end of the period |
|
$ |
3,435 |
|
|
$ |
3,236 |
|
|
$ |
3,435 |
|
|
$ |
3,236 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Significant non-cash transactions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Acquisition of property, plant and equipment |
|
$ |
39 |
|
|
$ |
150 |
|
|
$ |
39 |
|
|
$ |
150 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Evogene (NASDAQ:EVGN)
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