Rehovot, Israel
March 11, 2009
Evogene Ltd. (TASE: EVGN) announced today its financial
results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2008.
These results include initial activities under the Monsanto
Collaboration Agreement and the Monsanto Investment Agreement,
both signed in August 2008.
Ofer Haviv, Evogene's president and CEO stated: "We are very
pleased with our continuing and accelerated progress during
2008, further strengthening our position as a leader in improved
traits for a wide diversity of key commercial crops and improved
feedstock for biofuels. We are proud of the company’s
commercial, technical and financial progress during the past
year, all of which were achieved during a period of rapid
corporate expansion and a challenging financial environment."
Evogene's key achievements for the year included:
- Initiation of a multi-year
collaboration with Monsanto Company, the world’s leading seed
company, to improve yield in corn, soybeans, canola and cotton.
Pursuant to this collaboration, Evogene received a $5 million
initial payment and expects to receive annual research payments
totaling approximately $30 million during the next five years
plus milestone payments and royalties based on seed sales
incorporating Evogene discovered genes.
- Investment agreement with Monsanto, pursuant to which Monsanto
purchased an $18 million equity stake in Evogene, and shall be
obligated, subject to certain Evogene diligence requirements
under the collaboration and at Evogene’s request, to purchase in
the future an additional $12 million of Evogene equity.
- Successful field trial results for Evogene discovered genes in
corn. The field trials, conducted as part of Evogene’s
collaboration with Biogemma SAS, demonstrated that corn
containing Evogene discovered genes displayed significant yield
increases under both normal and drought conditions.
- Continued progress under collaborations with other leading
international ag-biotech companies, including new agreements
signed during 2008 with Vilmorin and
Viterra.
- Expansion, as planned, of our activities in the field of
biofuels.
- Substantial increases in our R&D capabilities and capacities,
including significant strengthening of Evogene's professional
staff and additions to our facilities and infrastructure to
support the Company’s rapidly growing R&D programs and
collaboration activities. This includes construction of
state-of-the-art greenhouses, additional laboratory space and
offices, and computational equipment.
Mr. Haviv continued: “With respect
to our financial status, during 2008 we substantially
strengthened our balance sheet through the signing of the
collaboration and investment agreements with Monsanto. We ended
the year with $29 million in cash, plus more than an additional
$30 million in expected future payments under existing
agreements."
Revenues for the year ended December 31, 2008 were $3.4 million,
compared to $251 thousand for the same period in 2007. Net loss
for the year ended December 31, 2008 was $4.8 million, or $0.22
per share, compared to a net loss of $4.9 million, or $0.29 per
share, for the same period in 2007.
Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2008 were $2.4 million,
compared to $67 thousand for the same period in 2007. Net profit
for the fourth quarter of 2008 was $4.6 million, including
financial income of $3.9 million (including $3.6 million
financial income due to revaluation of index linked publicly
traded Options according to the IFRS) and a profit of $800
thousand from ordinary operations. This is compared to a net
loss of $1.3 million, including financial expenses of $76
thousand (including $295 thousand financial expenses due to
revaluation of Options) and a loss of $1.2 million from ordinary
operations, for the corresponding quarter of 2007.
Revenues for the year ended December 31, 2008 and the fourth
quarter of 2008 include revenues generated under the
collaboration with Monsanto.
As of December 31, 2008, Evogene had $29 million in cash, cash
equivalents, cash deposits and short-term marketable securities.
Evogene is a world leading developer of improved plant
traits. The company’s proprietary product development platform
combines state of the art computational gene discovery
technology (The 'ATHLETE'), plant and field validation
capabilities and unique selection systems. Evogene's current
programs focus on the improvement of key plant traits, such as
yield and stress tolerance, and the improvement of plants
specifically for biofuel uses. Evogene has collaboration and
licensing agreements with world leading companies in the
agro-biotech and alternative energy industries. Evogene's
headquarters are in Rehovot, Israel, and its stock is traded on
the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE:EVGN). |
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