AgroPages-Yield10 Bioscience announces first quarter 2019 financial results-Agricultural news

Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTEN), an agricultural bioscience company which uses its “Trait Factory” to develop high value seed traits for the agriculture and food industries, today reported financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2019.

"2019 is off to a strong start for Yield10 and holds the potential to be a pivotal year for the Company,” said Oliver Peoples, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Yield10 Bioscience. “With more than 10 crop yield traits advancing in our pipeline, we continue to execute against our strategy to generate proof points in key commercial crops throughout 2019. We are also leveraging our 'Trait Factory' to drive collaborative opportunities with the objective of forming revenue generating partnerships to create a path to commercialization for our yield traits.”

“During the first quarter we completed the steps required to initiate planting for our 2019 Field Tests of C3003 and C3004, which we anticipate occurring in second quarter, pending suitable weather conditions. We also continued to make important progress deploying our novel yield traits for evaluation in canola, soybean, corn, wheat and rice, where in many cases we are leveraging third party capabilities and resources. We expect that many of these programs will produce agronomic and/or yield data during 2019, which should position Yield10 for future commercial opportunities,” Dr. Peoples concluded.

Recent Accomplishments

Completed Start-up Activities for 2019 Field Tests. Yield10 completed seed bulk up, permitting and contracting associated with the Company's 2019 Field Tests planned for the evaluation of seed yield traits in oilseed crops. Key studies include the evaluation of second generation C3003 in canola and the evaluation of C3004 in first-time field tests in Camelina.

Advanced deployment of two key traits in canola. Yield10 progressed the characterization of C3007 deployed in canola lines using CRISPR genome-editing as a key step toward enabling the submission of an "Am I Regulated?" letter in advance of U.S. field tests. Yield10 also produced its first canola lines containing the C3004 seed yield trait, one that is based on inserting a gene from Camelina to improve seed yield.

Initiated an early development program in corn to evaluate novel seed yield and drought tolerance traits. Corn is the highest value commercial row crop grown in the United States. Under Yield10’s corn program, six novel traits discovered by Yield10 are currently being deployed in corn by a third-party agriculture company with proven expertise introducing new traits into corn. This aspect of the development activity is expected to be completed in early 2020. Additional traits may be added to the program in 2019. Yield10 plans to engage an additional third-party to conduct field testing of the novel traits in corn to evaluate the impact on seed yield.

Broadened its intellectual property portfolio. Yield10 recently received a Notice of Allowance from the US PTO for claims relating to C3003. The patent is expected to issue in 2019. In addition, Yield10 signed an exclusive global license with the University of Missouri to additional advanced technology based on the ACCase complex, designated C3012, to boost oil content in crops.

FIRST QUARTER 2019 FINANCIAL OVERVIEW

Yield10 Bioscience is managed with an emphasis on cash flow and deploys its financial resources in a disciplined manner to achieve its key strategic objectives.

The Company ended the first quarter of 2019 with $6.1 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents. On March 18, 2019, Yield10 closed on a registered direct offering of its common stock, raising $2.6 million, net of offering costs of $0.3 million. The Company anticipates total net cash usage in a range of approximately $9.0 million to $9.5 million during 2019.

The Company's present capital resources, including funds received from its March 2019 offering, will not be sufficient to fund its planned operations for a twelve-month period and, therefore, raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. The Company's ability to continue operations after its current cash resources are exhausted depends on its ability to obtain additional financing, including public or private equity financing, secured or unsecured debt financing, and receipt of additional government research grants, as well as licensing or other collaborative arrangements.

Operations

The Company’s net cash used by operating activities during the first quarter of 2019 was $2.3 million, a decrease of $0.7 million from the $3.0 million used in operating activities during first quarter 2018.

For the first quarter ending March 31, 2019, the Company reported a net operating loss of $2.3 million, or $0.22 per share which is consistent to a net operating loss of $2.3 million, or $0.24 per share, for 2018.

Total research grant revenue for the first quarter 2019 was $0.1 million, consistent with $0.1 million recorded in the previous year. Research and development expenses were $1.2 million in the first quarter of 2019, compared to $1.1 million for the similar period in 2018. General and administrative expenses were $1.2 million and $1.3 million for the first quarters ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

The Company's 2018 condensed consolidated financial statements included in this press release have been adjusted to reflect the Company's adoption of Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-02 ("Topic 842"), Leases, on January 1, 2019. The effect of the new standard is material to the Company's financial statements. As permitted by Topic 842, the Company elected to modify its 2018 comparative financial statements to incorporate the new lease accounting guidance in order to ensure comparability between the two periods being presented.