Evogene revenues up 5% in Q3 2013

Evogene’s revenues for the first nine months ended September 30, 2013 were $13.2 million, compared to $12.3 million for the same period in 2012. Revenues for the third quarter of 2013 were $4.2 million, compared to $4.0 million reported for the same period in 2012. Revenues for the first nine months and the third quarter of 2013 consist primarily of research and development payments under the Company's various collaboration agreements.

Cost of revenues consists of expenses incurred in support of our ongoing collaborations that provide, in addition to current revenues stemming from research and development fees, the potential for future milestone and royalty revenues. Cost of revenues for the first nine months ended September 30, 2013 was $7.3 million, compared to $6.9 million for the same period in 2012. Cost of Revenues for the third quarter of 2013 was $2.6 million, compared to $2.4 million for the same period in 2012. This increase in costs primarily relates to the expansion in the Company's scope of activities in order to meet the obligations of its various contractual agreements.

Research and development expenses for the first nine months ended September 30, 2013, which do not include expenses incurred in support of ongoing collaborations which, as stated above, are accounted for as cost of revenues, were $7.6 million, compared to $5.2 million for the same period in 2012. Research and development expenses for the third quarter of 2013 were $3.0 million, compared to $1.9 million for the same period in 2012. The increases for 2013 compared to 2012 primarily relate to the significant increase in activities devoted to strengthening the infrastructure and expanding the product offerings across Evogene’s four operating divisions, including the establishment of dedicated computational platforms and related increases in professional staff.

General and administrative expenses for the first nine months ended September 30, 2013 were $2.1 million (including a non-cash expense of $503 thousand for amortization of share-based compensation), compared to $1.5 million for the same period in 2012 (including a non-cash expense of $221 thousand for amortization of share based-compensation). General and administrative expenses for the third quarter of 2013 were $863 thousand (including a non-cash expense of $315 thousand for amortization of share-based compensation), compared to $470 thousand for the same period in 2012 (including a non-cash expense of $49 thousand for amortization of share-based compensation). The increases for 2013 compared to 2012 primarily relate to the increase in non-cash expense for amortization of share-based compensation, as well as an increase in other expenses to support the growth of the ongoing activities of the Company.

Loss from ordinary operations for the first nine months ended September 30, 2013 was $4.7 million (including a non-cash expense of $1.6 million for amortization of share-based compensation), compared to loss from ordinary operations of $2.2 million for the same period in 2012 (including a non-cash expense of approximately $925 thousand for share-based compensation). Loss from ordinary operations for the third quarter of 2013 was $2.5 million (including a non-cash expense of approximately $1 million for share-based compensation), compared to loss from ordinary operations of $1.1 million for the same period in 2012 (including a non-cash expense of approximately $352 thousand for share-based compensation). This increase in loss from ordinary operations primarily relates to the increase in research and development expenses and an increase in non-cash expenses for share-based compensation as described above.

Total comprehensive loss for the first nine months ended September 30, 2013 was $4.7 million (including a non-cash expense of $1.6 million for amortization of share-based compensation), compared to a total comprehensive loss of $1.8 million for the same period in 2012 (including a non-cash expense of approximately $925 thousand for share-based compensation). Total comprehensive loss for the third quarter of 2013 was $2.3 million (including a non-cash expense of approximately $1.0 million for share-based compensation), compared to a total comprehensive loss of $1.0 million for the same period in 2012 (including a non-cash expense of approximately $352 thousand for share-based compensation).

As of September 30, 2013, Evogene had approximately $48.3 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities compared to approximately $55.1 million as at December 31, 2012.

Ofer Haviv, Evogene's President and CEO, stated: “Last year, in view of the broad applicability of the unique technological capabilities and infrastructure that we have established over the past decade, we reorganized our company into four operating divisions, each focused on leveraging these assets to create improved products in a different and substantial market area.”

“In our most mature division, Yield and Abiotic Stress, we currently have seventeen product programs with many of the leading seed companies in the world, including our multiyear collaborations with Monsanto Company in corn, soybean, cotton and canola, and with Bayer CropScience for wheat.”

“We continue to broaden our activities in our division focused on Biotic Stress. We recently expanded our Asian Soybean Rust collaboration with Pioneer DuPont, and, following promising results for Evogene-supplied candidate genes, we also extended our collaboration with Syngenta in the field of Soybean Nematode. We were also pleased to announce positive field trial results in our collaboration with RAHAN, targeting Black Sigatoka disease in bananas.”

“In our Ag-Chemicals division, the newest of our four operating divisions, our current focus is on new ‘modes of action’ for herbicides and novel crop enhancers. During the past quarter we continued to extend certain of our existing capabilities to meet these new pursuits and to add the required chemical-specific capabilities and infrastructure."

“Our wholly owned subsidiary, Evofuel, continues to progress towards its goal of developing and supplying castor seeds as a cost-competitive biofuel feedstock. During the past quarter, we were pleased to announce the completion of three years of field trials in Brazil and, based on encouraging results, our expectation to initiate commercialization of our proprietary castor seeds in 2016.”

“Everything that we are able to accomplish in our four operating divisions rests on our unique technology platforms and highly skilled professional staff. As such, in addition to our program-directed activities in each division, we continue to make increasing investments to enhance and extend our core technologies and capabilities. These efforts have been primarily related to our computational technologies and plant validation platforms, including the broadening of our field-trial capabilities and greenhouse facilities," concluded Mr. Haviv.