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Rehovot, Israel
March 13, 2008
Evogene Ltd. (TASE: EVGN) today reported financial results
for the fourth quarter and year-end December 31, 2007.
"All of us at Evogene are very pleased by the significant
progress we made during 2007 towards strengthening our position
as world leaders in developing improved plants for the
ag-biotech and biofuel industries,” stated Ofer Haviv, Evogene’s
President and CEO. “This progress was achieved in all fronts of
our business, including substantial enhancements of our
computational gene discovery, validation and development
platform; the discovery of hundreds of novel candidates genes of
interest in our various programs and further validation of
selected genes by us and our partners; the integration of groups
of our discovered genes in the pipeline of leading ag-biotech
companies through deals and collaborations, and a rapidly
growing list of partners, such as Bayer CropScience, Monsanto
Company, and Pioneer Hi-Bred; the utilization of our plant
capabilities for the field of biofuels, especially through the
joint biodiesel program with Orfuel, a subsidiary of Ormat; and
the strengthening of our financial situation through the public
offering of Evogene shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange." Mr.
Haviv continued “Based on this progress and momentum – and the
growing recognition of Evogene’s unique and innovative
capabilities in the agbiotech and biofuel fields - we
enthusiastically look forward to continuing this progress during
2008 and future years."
Revenues for the year ended December 31, 2007 were $268,000*,
compared to $114,000** for the same period in 2006. Net loss for
the year ended December 31, 2007 was $3.6 million (including a
non-cash charge of $656,000 for amortization of deferred
compensation), or $0.21 per share, compared with a net loss $2.7
million
(including $59,000 of deferred compensation), or $0.22 per
share, for the same period in 2006.
Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2007 were $69,000, compared
to $34,000 for the fourth quarter of 2006. The net loss for the
fourth quarter of 2007 was $1 million (including a non-cash
charge of $147,000 for amortization of deferred compensation),
or $0.05 per share, compared with a net loss of $534,000
(including $13,000 of deferred compensation), or $0.04 per
share, for the corresponding quarter of 2006.
As of December 31, 2007, Evogene had $9.2 million in cash, cash
equivalents, cash deposits and short-term marketable securities.
*Converted from New Israeli Shekels (NIS) at the exchange rate
on December 31, 2007 (3.846NIS = $1.00) for the convenience of
readers.
** Converted from New Israeli Shekels (NIS) at and the exchange
rate on December 31, 2006 (4.225NIS = $1.00) for the convenience
of readers.
Evogene is a leading developer of improved plants for the
ag-biotech and biofuel industries. The Company’s proprietary
product development platform combines world leading
computational gene discovery technologies, high throughput
selection systems and advanced breeding methods. The platform’s
computational biology component - the ATHLETE - is based on
Compugen's (Nasdaq: CGEN) in-silico predictive discovery
capabilities. Evogene's current programs focus on yield under
normal and various environmental stress conditions (such as
drought), fertilizer utilization and the improvement of plants
specifically for biofuel uses. Evogene has collaboration and
licensing agreements with world leading companies in the
ag-biotech and alternative energy industries. Evogene's
headquarters in Rehovot, Israel, and is traded on the Tel Aviv
Stock Exchange (TASE:EVGN). |
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