EX-99.1 2 exhibit_99-1.htm EXHIBIT 99.1
Exhibit 99.1
Evogene Reports Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results
 
Conference call and webcast: today, August 31, 2022, 9:00 am ET
 
Rehovot, Israel – August 31, 2022 – Evogene Ltd. (Nasdaq: EVGN, TASE: EVGN), a leading computational biology company targeting to revolutionize life-science product discovery and development across multiple market segments, announced today its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022.
  
Mr. Ofer Haviv, Evogene's President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We are very pleased with the two recent important developments that have taken place at the Evogene group: namely, the strategic collaboration and $10 million investment by ICL, a leading global specialty minerals company, into our subsidiary, Lavie Bio; as well as the launch of the Phase I first in human clinical trial, by our subsidiary, Biomica.”
 
“The strategic collaboration between ICL and Lavie Bio and $10 million investment, combines Lavie Bio's ag-biologicals expertise, built on Evogene’s Microboost AI tech engine, with ICL's fertilizer experience, enabling the development of a pipeline of innovative bio-stimulant products for agriculture. Especially in a time of food scarcity, high prices, and macroeconomic uncertainty, Lavie Bio and ICL’s shared vision is to enhance global food quality, agricultural sustainability, and increased productivity. ICL will join Corteva, a major U.S. agricultural chemical and seed company, as well as Evogene, as a new shareholder of Lavie Bio and I am very proud that these two agricultural giants have a strong interest in what Evogene has built.”

“From Evogene's standpoint, this investment in our subsidiary Lavie Bio, is an additional key milestone that demonstrates the power of our business model, whereby we are leveraging the value of our tech engines through dedicated subsidiaries. It shows that our hard work in building, investing in and strengthening our subsidiaries, all of which are leveraging our underlying computational predictive biological tech engines, is the right strategy and bears fruit. ”
 
Continued Mr. Haviv, “The second important development was the launch by Biomica of its phase I clinical trial and the announcement that the first patient was dosed in its Phase I clinical trial for its microbiome-based immuno-oncology drug candidate, BMC128. The drug candidate is a consortium of microbes, which Biomica selected through a microbiome analysis via our MicroBoost AI tech engine. ”
 
“While Evogene has traditionally leveraged its platform and AI technology engines towards agriculture, Biomica is proof that we are uniquely positioned to play an important role in human health and is strong validation that our technology can be leveraged across multiple and massive industries.”
 
“Finally, we continued to strengthen our management team, recently adding Eyal Ronen as Executive Vice President of Business Development bringing us over 20 years of extensive business development experience with biotech companies. Eyal's focus is to create and bring us additional value by building new partnerships or forming new subsidiaries, leveraging our technology engines and expanding our activities into new areas. I strongly believe that Evogene has significant untapped potential in its technology engines, and Eyal will focus on realizing some of that value.”

Mr. Haviv added, “Evogene today is at a key inflection point, whereby we are meeting critical milestones and the inherent value of our subsidiaries is becoming increasingly obvious. Evogene's goal in the near term is to continue to bring high value-adding partners and investors at the subsidiary level, who understand and can value the potential from the products that our subsidiaries are developing. This we believe will demonstrate in a very public way, the significant untapped value contained within our activities. ”

“Our target is that each subsidiary will have its own financial resources to support its activities until its success, while we at Evogene, in addition to being a major shareholder, continue to play a major role in maintaining and building their competitive advantage through our tech-engines. ”

“In parallel, we are targeting and exploring the potential to establish new activities that can benefit from our technology. This is the main mission of our new EVP of Business Development, Eyal Ronen, and we are already starting to see some of his positive impact. ” concluded Mr. Haviv.

Consolidated Financial Results Summary
 
Cash position: Evogene continues to maintain a solid financial position for its activities with approximately $35.3 million in consolidated cash, cash related accounts and marketable securities as of June 30, 2022.  Approximately $3.6 million of Evogene’s consolidated cash is appropriated to its subsidiary, Lavie Bio. The Company does not have bank debt. It is noted that these amounts do not include the recent $10 million investment of ICL in Lavie Bio, which was fully received in August 2022 and will be reflected in the financial statements of the Company for the third quarter.

During the second quarter of 2022, the consolidated cash usage was approximately $9.3 million, or approximately $6.4 million, excluding Lavie Bio. Out of the $9.3 million, $1.7 million is a non-cash charge related to foreign exchange expenses due to US Dollar and New Israeli Shekel exchange rate differences and a decrease in the market value of marketable securities on Evogene’s balance sheet.

As previously stated, Evogene’s full year net cash burn rate, excluding exchange rate impacts in 2022, is expected to be in the range of $26-28 million including Lavie Bio and $18-20 million excluding Lavie Bio, which manages its own cash position.

Revenues: Revenues for the second quarter were $312 thousand, in comparison to $135 thousand in the same period the previous year. Revenues were primarily due to the initial sales of Lavie Bio’s Thrivus product (previously branded as Result) and sales of Canonic products in the Israeli market.

R&D expenses for the quarter, which are reported net of non-refundable grants received, were $5.4 million, in comparison to $5.0 million in the same period the previous year. The increase in R&D expenses was primarily due to:


 1.
Biomica’s ongoing phase I trial of its first-in-human proof-of-concept study in its immuno-oncology program; and
 

 2.
Lavie Bio's activities supporting the production and commercialization of its inoculant product.
 
Business Development expenses were approximately $1.0 million for the second quarter of 2022, in comparison to $0.7 million in the same period the previous year. The increase in the Business Development expenses was primarily due to recruitment of business development personnel supporting the commercialization activities of Evogene’s subsidiaries.

General and Administrative expenses remained stable, and for the second quarter of 2022 were $1.7 million, in comparison to $1.8 million in the same period in the previous year.

Operating loss: Operating loss for the second quarter of 2022 was $8.0 million in comparison to $7.4 million in the same period in the previous year.
 
Financing expenses for the second quarter of 2022 were $1.7 million, in comparison to financing income of $0.6 million in the same period in the previous year. The increase in financing expenses was mainly due to the U.S. Dollar and New Israeli Shekel exchange rate differences between periods and a decrease in marketable securities value as mentioned above.
 
Net loss: The net loss for the second quarter of 2022 was $9.8 million, in comparison to a net loss of $6.9 million in the same period in the previous year. The increase in net loss was mainly due to the financing expenses as described above.
 
***

Conference Call & Webcast Details:
 
Date: August 31, 2022
 
Time: 9:00 am ET; 16:00 Israel time
 
Dial-in numbers:1-888-281-1167 toll free from the United States, or +972-3-918-0609 internationally
 
Webcast & Presentation link available at:
 
https://www.evogene.com/investor-relations/presentations-and-webcasts/
 
The Company's investors presentation can be viewed at the above link, which is in the investor relations section of the company website.
 
Replay Information: A replay of the conference call will be available approximately two 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 following the call for three days. An archive of the webcast will be available on the Company’s website.
 
About Evogene Ltd.:
 
Evogene (NASDAQ: EVGN, TASE: EVGN) is a computational biology company aiming to revolutionize the development of life-science based products by utilizing cutting edge technologies to increase probability of success while reducing development time and cost. Evogene established three unique technological engines – MicroBoost AI, ChemPass AI and GeneRator AI – leveraging Big Data and Artificial Intelligence and incorporating deep multidisciplinary understanding in life sciences. Each technological engine is focused on the discovery and development of products based on one of the following core components: microbes (MicroBoost AI), small molecules (ChemPass AI), and genetic elements (GeneRator AI). Evogene uses its technological engines to develop products through subsidiaries and with strategic partners. Currently, Evogene’s main subsidiaries utilize the technological engines to develop human microbiome-based therapeutics by Biomica Ltd., medical cannabis products by Canonic Ltd., ag-chemicals by Ag Plenus Ltd. and ag-biologicals by Lavie Bio Ltd.  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”, “hopes” “intends”, “anticipates”, “plans”, “believes”, “scheduled”, “estimates” or words of similar meaning. For example, Evogene is using forward-looking statement in this press release when it discusses its expectations with respect to value creation and potential funding options, including through its subsidiaries, untapped potential and value, including the potential to establish new activities that can benefit from Evogene’s technology, its and its subsidiaries’ expected trials, studies, product advancements, pipelines, commercializations, collaborations, sales, launches, milestones, target markets, cash usage and other plans for 2022 and on, and the potential advantages of its technology. 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 and its subsidiaries may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond the control of Evogene and its subsidiaries, including, without limitation, those risk factors contained in Evogene’s reports filed with the applicable securities authority. In addition, Evogene and its subsidiaries rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties to conduct certain activities, such as their field-trials and pre-clinical studies, and if these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines, Evogene and its subsidiaries may experience significant delays in the conduct of their activities. Evogene and its subsidiaries disclaim any obligation or commitment to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or developments or changes in expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions.
 
Evogene Investor Contact:
  
Kenny Green
Email: ir@evogene.com
Tel: +1 212 378 8040
  

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION
U.S. dollars in thousands

   
June 30,
    
December 31,
  
   
2022
    
2021
  
   
Unaudited
    
Audited
  
CURRENT ASSETS:
            
Cash and cash equivalents
  
$
28,867
    
$
32,325
  
Short-term bank deposits
    
-
      
3,000
  
Marketable securities
    
6,383
      
18,541
  
Trade receivables
    
111
      
281
  
Inventories
    
162
      
92
  
Other receivables and prepaid expenses
    
2,182
      
2,651
  
                 
     
37,705
      
56,890
  
LONG-TERM ASSETS:
                
Long-term deposits
    
24
      
25
  
Right-of-use-assets
    
1,808
      
2,109
  
Property, plant and equipment, net
    
2,495
      
2,073
  
Intangible assets, net
    
14,630
      
15,207
  
                 
     
18,957
      
19,414
  
                 
   
$
56,662
    
$
76,304
  
CURRENT LIABILITIES:
                
Trade payables
  
$
1,324
    
$
1,463
  
Employees and payroll accruals
    
2,384
      
2,662
  
Lease liability
    
754
      
974
  
Liabilities in respect of government grants
    
126
      
89
  
Deferred revenues and other advances
    
16
      
175
  
Other payables
    
937
      
1,519
  
                 
     
5,541
      
6,882
  
LONG-TERM LIABILITIES:
                
Lease liability
    
1,367
      
1,695
  
Liabilities in respect of government grants
    
4,357
      
4,307
  
                 
     
5,724
      
6,002
  
SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY:
                
Ordinary shares of NIS 0.02 par value:
Authorized − 150,000,000 ordinary shares; Issued and outstanding – 41,202,018 shares as of June 30, 2022 and 41,170,168  shares as of December 31, 2021
    
234
      
234
  
Share premium and other capital reserve
    
260,880
      
260,488
  
Accumulated deficit
    
(224,165
)
    
(207,069
)
                 
Equity attributable to equity holders of the Company
    
36,949
      
53,653
  
                 
Non-controlling interests
    
8,448
      
9,767
  
                 
   Total equity
    
45,397
      
63,420
  
                 
   
$
56,662
    
$
76,304
  

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF PROFIT OR LOSS
U.S. dollars in thousands

   
Six months ended
June 30,
    
Three months ended
June 30,
    
Year ended December 31,
  
   
2022
    
2021
    
2022
    
2021
    
2021
  
   
Unaudited
    
Audited
  
                               
Revenues
  
$
549
    
$
468
    
$
312
    
$
135
    
$
930
  
Cost of revenues
    
425
      
399
      
262
      
128
      
767
  
                                         
Gross profit
    
124
      
69
      
50
      
7
      
163
  
                                         
Operating expenses:
                                        
                                         
Research and development, net
    
11,043
      
9,283
      
5,417
      
4,986
      
21,125
  
Business development
    
1,870
      
1,242
      
962
      
672
      
2,738
  
General and administrative
    
3,273
      
3,249
      
1,678
      
1,795
      
7,253
  
                                         
Total operating expenses
    
16,186
      
13,774
      
8,057
      
7,453
      
31,116
  
                                         
Operating loss
    
(16,062
)
    
(13,705
)
    
(8,007
)
    
(7,446
)
    
(30,953
)
                                         
Financing income
    
485
      
617
      
444
      
565
      
1,935
  
Financing expenses
    
(3,243
)
    
(919
)
    
(2,153
)
    
(14
)
    
(1,414
)
                                         
Financing income (expenses), net
    
(2,758
)
    
(302
)
    
(1,709
)
    
551
      
521
  
                                         
Loss before taxes on income
    
(18,820
)
    
(14,007
)
    
(9,716
)
    
(6,895
)
    
(30,432
)
Taxes on income
    
40
      
11
      
38
      
3
      
13
  
                                         
Loss
  
$
(18,860
)
  
$
(14,018
)
  
$
(9,754
)
  
$
(6,898
)
  
$
(30,445
)
                                         
Attributable to:
                                        
Equity holders of the Company
  
$
(17,096
)
    
(12,812
)
    
(8,821
)
    
(6,210
)
    
(27,793
)
Non-controlling interests
    
(1,764
)
    
(1,206
)
    
(933
)
    
(688
)
    
(2,652
)
                                         
   
$
(18,860
)
  
$
(14,018
)
  
$
(9,754
)
  
$
(6,898
)
  
$
(30,445
)
                                         
Basic and diluted loss per share, attributable to equity holders of the Company
  
$
(0.42
)
  
$
(0.32
)
  
$
(0.21
)
  
$
(0.15
)
  
$
(0.69
)
                                         
Weighted average number of shares used in computing basic and diluted loss per share
    
41,195,024
      
39,778,174
      
41,202,018
      
40,580,563
      
40,433,303
  

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
U.S. dollars in thousands

   
Six months ended
June 30,
    
Three months ended
June 30,
    
Year ended December 31,
  
   
2022
    
2021
    
2022
    
2021
    
2021
  
   
Unaudited
    
Audited
  
    Cash flows from operating activities
                              
                               
   Loss
  
$
(18,860
)
  
$
(14,018
)
  
$
(9,754
)
  
$
(6,898
)
  
$
(30,445
)
                                         
Adjustments to reconcile loss to net cash used in operating activities:
                                        
                                         
Adjustments to the profit or loss items:
                                        
                                         
Depreciation
    
717
      
672
      
371
      
342
      
1,302
  
Amortization of intangible assets
    
577
      
462
      
242
      
232
      
932
  
Share-based compensation
    
830
      
1,089
      
419
      
558
      
2,609
  
Net financing expenses (income)
    
3,139
      
(7
)
    
2,033
      
(893
)
    
(884
)
Increase (decrease) in accrued bank interest
    
7
      
-
      
-
      
(12
)
    
11
  
Pre-funded warrants issuance expenses
    
-
      
212
      
-
      
212
      
-
  
Loss from derecognition of property, plant and equipment
    
-
      
-
      
-
      
-
      
121
  
Taxes on income
    
40
      
11
      
38
      
3
      
13
  
                                         
     
5,310
      
2,439
      
3,103
      
442
      
4,104
  
Changes in asset and liability items:
                                        
                                         
Decrease (increase) in trade receivables
    
170
      
14
      
55
      
11
      
(59
)
Decrease in other receivables
    
463
      
1,007
      
551
      
289
      
637
  
Decrease (increase) in inventories
    
(70
)
    
-
      
10
      
-
      
(92
)
Increase (decrease) in trade payables
    
(172
)
    
355
      
(6
)
    
232
      
625
  
Increase (decrease) in employees and payroll accruals
    
(278
)
    
(318
)
    
(272
)
    
(180
)
    
127
  
Increase (decrease) in other payables
    
(593
)
    
(278
)
    
(147
)
    
(23
)
    
290
  
Increase (decrease) in deferred revenues and other advances
    
(159
)
    
(21
)
    
(99
)
    
-
      
128
  
                                         
     
(639
)
    
759
      
92
      
329
      
1,656
  
                                         
Cash received (paid) during the period for:
                                        
                                         
Interest received
    
80
      
145
      
31
      
76
      
297
  
Interest paid
    
(227
)
    
(138
)
    
(103
)
    
(81
)
    
(315
)
Taxes paid
    
(29
)
    
(11
)
    
(27
)
    
(3
)
    
(13
)
                                         
Net cash used in operating activities
  
$
(14,365
)
  
$
(10,824
)
  
$
(6,658
)
  
$
(6,135
)
  
$
(24,716
)

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
U.S. dollars in thousands

   
Six months ended
June 30,
    
Three months ended
June 30,
    
Year ended December 31,
  
   
2022
    
2021
    
2022
    
2021
    
2021
  
   
Unaudited
    
Audited
  
Cash flows from investing activities:
                              
                               
Purchase of property, plant and equipment
    
(747
)
    
(407
)
    
(305
)
    
(224
)
    
(847
)
Proceeds from sale of marketable securities
    
12,149
      
406
      
2,725
      
205
      
4,395
  
Purchase of marketable securities
    
(659
)
    
(20,990
)
    
(659
)
    
(709
)
    
(23,114
)
Withdrawal from (investment in) bank deposits
    
3,000
      
-
      
-
      
9,500
      
(1,000
)
                                         
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities
  
$
13,743
    
$
(20,991
)
  
$
1,761
    
$
8,772
    
$
(20,566
)
                                         
Cash flows from financing activities:
                                        
                                         
Proceeds from issuance of ordinary shares, net of issuance expenses
    
-
      
27,922
      
-
      
814
      
29,582
  
Proceeds from exercise of options
    
7
      
460
      
-
      
15
      
484
  
Repayment of lease liability
    
(492
)
    
(316
)
    
(369
)
    
(149
)
    
(580
)
Proceeds from government grants
    
30
      
380
      
-
      
257
      
824
  
Repayment of government grants
    
(14
)
    
(20
)
    
-
      
-
      
(34
)
                                         
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities
    
(469
)
    
28,426
      
(369
)
    
937
      
30,276
  
                                         
Exchange rate differences - cash and cash equivalent balances
    
(2,367
)
    
(85
)
    
(1,880
)
    
539
      
1,102
  
                                         
Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents
    
(3,458
)
    
(3,474
)
    
(7,146
)
    
4,113
      
(13,904
)
                                         
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of the period
    
32,325
      
46,229
      
36,013
      
38,642
      
46,229
  
                                         
Cash and cash equivalents, end of the period
  
$
28,867
    
$
42,755
    
$
28,867
    
$
42,755
    
$
32,325
  
                                         
Significant non-cash activities
                                        
Acquisition of property, plant and equipment
  
$
66
    
$
42
    
$
66
    
$
42
    
$
32
  
                                         
Increase of right-of-use asset recognized with corresponding lease liability
  
$
30
    
$
317
    
$
-
    
$
155
    
$
841
  
Exercise of pre-funded warrants
    
-
      
4,365
      
-
      
-
    
$
4,365