Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ:EVGN) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript
Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ:EVGN) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript March 7, 2024
Evogene Ltd. isn't one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Evogene's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results Conference Call. All participants are present in a listen-only mode. Following managements formal presentation, instructions will be given for the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded, March 7, 2024. Before we begin, I would like to caution that certain statements made during this earnings conference call by Evogene's management will constitute forward-looking statements that relate to future events. This investor call 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, schedules, estimates or words of similar meaning.
For example, Evogene is using forward-looking statements in this investor call when it discusses the further partnerships with industry leaders, increased sales of subsidiary products like Casterra’s elite castor varieties and Lavie Bio's bio-inoculant Yalos, expansion beyond its current sectors, continued revenue growth for the Evogene Group in 2024, potential transfer of Canonic's operations to a third party, increased production of Casterra, commercialization of AgPlenus and Lavie Bio's and the timing and results of the clinical trials and preclinical trials of Biomica's products. 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, the current war between Israel and Hamas and any worsening of the situation in Israel. Such as further mobilizations or escalation in the northern border of Israel and those risk factors contained in Evogene's reports filed with an 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 preclinical 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. More detailed information about the risk factors potentially adversely impacting our performance can be found in our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Today's call will feature Ofer Haviv, President and CEO of Evogene alongside Yaron Eldad, CFO of Evogene and Yoash Zohar, CEO of Casterra.
Additionally, a representative each subsidiary will be present at the Q&A session. That said, I would now like to turn over the call to Ofer Haviv, President and CEO of Evogene. Mr. Haviv, please go ahead.
Ofer Haviv: Hi, and good day, everyone. In today's conference call, I would like to start with a review of the Evogene Group's achievement June 2023 until today and provide you with an update on our activities as well as potential catalysts during the next 12 months. Following my review, Casterra new CEO, Yoash Zohar, will introduce himself, provide an update on Casterra's activity and outline the Company's Board for the coming years. Evogene's CFO, Yaron Eldad will then provide a financial summary and update. After that, we will open the Q&A session. What year it's been for the Evogene Group since our last earnings call summarizing 2022. Despite the challenges we are facing collectively here in Israel, this year marked a significant shift in how the industry views our technology and products, translating into growing collaborations with board-leading companies.
The number and caliber of partnerships, Evogene and our subsidiaries have formed speaks of volumes. Lavie Bio, partnering with Corteva, ICL, and Syngenta. AgPlenus partnering with Bayer and Corteva. Casterra partnered with global oil and gas company. Biomica securing investment from Shanghai Healthcare capital and Evogene collaborating with Verb Biotics and Colors, all highlight our growing presence and impact in the life science industry. This expanding collaboration momentum validate the value of Evogene AI tech engines, MicroBoost AI, ChemPass AI and GeneRator AI, relying on our CPB platform, which we have been developing for over a decade. Looking ahead, we anticipate further collaboration with industry leaders directly or through our subsidiaries, an increase in the volume of sales of products by our subsidiaries such as Casterra's elite castor varieties and Lavie's bio-inoculant Yalos and expanding Evogene's reach behind its current sectors of activity.
These efforts not only validate our contribution, but also strengthen our financial position through non-dilutive funding and revenue streams from upfront payments, R&D fees, milestones and direct product sales. As reflected in the revenue the Company reports today totaling approximately $5.6 million compared to approximately $1.7 million in 2022. We expect to see continued growth in the Evogene Group revenue in 2024. As we have new listeners on today's call, I would like to briefly review Evogene's core technology and our value proposition. Evogene has been using its computational predictive biology platform, the CPB to direct and accelerate the development of life science-based products. The CPB is at the foundation of our three AI tech engines.
MicroBoost AI supports the development of micro-based products, ChemPass AI supports small molecule-based product and GeneRator AI supports product based on genetic elements. Our AI-driven tech engines aim to tackle the main challenges in life science product development, candidate discovery and optimization. Identified winning candidates from a set number of prospects and meeting complex criteria for success in commercial products. The value proposition of our AI-driven tech engines stems from the efficient finding of the needle in the haystack; therefore, increasing the probability of the success within a competitive timeframe and in a cost-efficient manner. After reviewing our technology on to our business model, our business model revolves around two main strategies: for leveraging our AI technology licensing.
Evogene offers time limited license to third parties, such as our subsidiaries on related entities allowing them to use our tech engine for product development within a specific commercial domain. This model typically generates revenue through license fee, R&D reimbursement, but more importantly, dividends to Evogene as a shareholder over significant onetime payments upon an exit event, particularly if Evogene is a major shareholder. Collaboration. Evogene collaborate with industry leaders to jointly drive product development. In these ventures, our partners often take the lead in later-stage development and commercialization, while we contribute our unique tech engine to identify and optimize product candidates. Revenue from this model usually came from upfront payment, R&D fees and royalty from sales of future end products.
And now, we are commercializing MicroBoost AI through licensing agreements with Lavie Bio for ag-biological and with Biomica for human microbiome based ag development, and Evogene is also collaborating with Verb Biotics to develop probiotic product. ChemPass AI is commercialized through a license agreement with our subsidiary, AgPlenus for chemical product development. GeneRator AI is commercialized through license agreement with Casterra for castor seed varieties and Canonic for medical cannabis products. Evogene is also collaborating with Colors Farms Ltd. on crustacean gene editing technology through GeneRator AI. I would like now to review in more detail the collaboration of Evogene is engaged in with third parties and then briefly review the main achievements of our subsidiaries.
At the beginning of February 2024, we proudly announced a partnership between Evogene and Verb Biotics, an innovative probiotics company. Our collaboration with Verb Biotics allows us to tap into the growing probiotics market using Evogene's MicroBoost AI tech-engine. Together, we are working on identifying and designing probiotic bacteria that produce highly sustainable quantities of microbial metabolites known to improve human health and vitality with the probiotics market projected to double to around $114 billion by 2031. We are seizing the opportunity to revolutionize this industry and provide cutting-edge solutions for consumer worldwide. Earlier this year, we reported collaboration with Colors Farm and Ben Gurion University to crustacean gene editing technology aiming to enhance crustacean traits.
The collaboration is powered by a grant from the Israel Innovation Authority and utilize Evogene's GeneRator AI tech engine. Another milestone worth mentioning is that our Ag-Seed Division secured the EUR 1.2 million grant to develop oilseed crops with enhanced CO2 simulation and drought tolerance. The program known as the EIC 2022 Horizon program supports business addressing climate focus and sustainable crop development. In this program, we utilize the Evogene's GeneRator AI tech engine capabilities as well. These partnerships exemplify our business approach and demonstrate how we use our tech engines to bring innovative products to market in sectors not covered by our subsidiaries. It's important for me to emphasize that all of these collaborations are all generating revenue to Evogene.
Now let's review our subsidiaries' achievements. I would like to start with Casterra. Evogene's fully owned subsidiary, which focuses on developing an integrated solution to enable large-scale commercial cultivation of castor beans benefiting from its unique and listed varieties, utilizing GeneRator AI tech engines. Casterra solutions aim to address the global demand for a stable customer oil supply, mainly for the biodiesel industry. The past year was pivotal for Casterra. Its vision of becoming a significant player in the biodiesel industry progresses with seed order from award leading oil and gas company, totaling $11.3 million for castor cultivation in Africa. In September, Casterra successfully delivered its first shipment of high-yield high-oil castor seeds from Brazil and Zambia to an African region generating revenue of approximately $1 million.
As published earlier this week, the Company recently signed agreements with existing and new seed producers in Brazil and Africa to increase its production capabilities of castor seeds in 2024, which are expected to add approximately 400 tons. This new agreement will enable the Company to support the existing state orders. Looking forward to 2024, Casterra is committed to expanding its castor seed production capacity through securing agreements with additional subcontractors in Brazil and Africa on which we expect to update. Finally, on January 2024, we welcome you Yoash Zohar as Casterra's new CEO, who will enter present himself. Yoash brings a wealth of experience in global ad projects, and I'm confident in his ability to propel the Company forward.
I wish him and the rest of Casterra's team would luck. Now I would like to review our wholly owned subsidiary, AgPlenus aiming to discover next-generation innovative crop protection products, including herbicide, insecticide and fungicide and commercialize them through collaboration with world-leading partners. AgPlenus utilized Evogene ChemPass AI tech engine to accelerate and direct its product development. Major agrochemical companies dominate today's crop protection industry. Still, they look to smaller ag tech companies to discover new target brought in and small molecules that inhibit such target proteins, serving as the active ingredient in commercial crop protection product. AgPlenus is the Company that addresses this need. As I stated in the previous call, there is a growing interest in AgPlenus product pipeline.
And recently, we were fortunate to see that interest materialize. In February 2024, AgPlenus announced signing of a licensing and collaboration agreement with Bayer's Crop Science division. Under the agreement, AgPlenus will use its AI-driven computational modeling technology to design and optimize the molecules identified for their broad-spectrum herbicidal activity, targeting the APTH1 protein, a new mode of action identified by AgPlenus. Bayer will have the exclusive license for developing and commercializing products developed within the collaboration. AgPlenus will be entitled to receive an upfront payment ongoing research funding, milestone payments and royalty based on future product sales. Another impressive and important announcement was the milestone achievement in the ongoing collaboration with Corteva for the development of novel herbicides.
The milestone marks the successful identification of a new family of molecules exhibiting herbicidal effect through a novel mode of action, APCO-12 discovered by AgPlenus. In the next phase, the collaboration will optimize the identified molecules towards commercial level products, utilizing AgPlenus cutting-edge computational technology powered by Evogene's ChemPass AI tech engine. These two collaborations strengthened AgPlenu's financial position and overall perception in the agriculture market. Last, but not least, we introduced Dr. Dan Jacob Gelvan as AgPlenus new CEO, that's extensive experience and proven track record well positioned him to guide AgPlenus through its next phase of growth and innovation. AgPlenus former CEO, Dr. Brian Ember, has transitioned to Chief Business Officer.
I would like to thank Brian for his contribution and leadership to AgPlenus, and I look forward to continuing our work together in his new role. AgPlenus is looking towards an exciting year with new management in place, the collaborative agreements signed with Bayer in February and the maximum reach in the Corteva collaboration in March. 2024 is looking bright for the Company. Alongside those AgPlenus will continue to advance its pipeline based on the ChemPass AI tech engine and seek additional collaboration with existing and new partners. I would like now to continue with the two subsidiaries using MicroBoost AI to accelerate and direct their product development, Biomica and Lavie Bio. Biomica specializing in developing microbiome therapeutics for human health, utilizing Evogene's MicroBoost AI tech engine to discover and optimize microbes with therapeutic potential.
In April 2023, Biomica completed a $20 million financing round with Shanghai Healthcare Capital investment of $10 million. This investment made as a post-money valuation of $50 million served as an external validation of Biomica's long-term potential. Biomica's flagship product candidate, BMC128, targeting immune-oncology patients is currently undergoing Phase I clinical trial. The trial initiated at Rambam Health Care Campus in Israel aims to assess BMC128 safety and durability in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo immune therapy. In August 2023, Biomica expanded its operations by opening a second site at The Davidoff Cancer Center in Israel to facilitate additional patient recruitment for the clinical trial. In January 2024, Biomica reached a significant milestone by completing Phase I trial enrollment for its microbiome-based immuno-oncology drug with preliminary results showing promising outcomes.
Initial data point readout is anticipated during 2024. In July 2023, Biomica reported positive interim results from preclinical studies on its IPS program conducted in collaboration with Professor Kara Gross Margolis Lab at New York University. These results demonstrate the efficacy of Biomica's live bacterial consortia, BMC426 and BMC427 alleviating visceral pain, a major symptom of IBS, presenting promising new treatment avenues. Biomica intends to conduct further preclinical studies on BMC426 and BMC427 to prepare for clinical trials. Looking ahead, Biomica remains committed to advancing its efforts and aim to submit an IND application for BMC128, targeting immuno-oncology patients. During the third quarter of 2024, a pivotal step in preparing for Phase II clinical trial in the U.S. In addition, the Company will continue to expand its candidates in the IBS and IBD programs towards Phase I clinical trials.
Now to Lavie Bio, who leverages Evogene's MicroBoost AI tech engine to develop next-generation ag-biological products. In addition to Evogene's majority ownership, Lavie Bio has two additional major shareholders Corteva, New York listed multinational ad tech giant and ICL a New York listed global minerals and ad-tech company. In July 2023, Lavie Bio entered a licensing agreement with Corteva considering exclusive rights for Corteva for advancing and commercializing Lavie Bio’s lead bio-fungicides, LAV311 and LAV312 targeting fruit rots. This agreement follows two years of independent field validation trial conducted by both companies. Under the agreement, Lavie Bio received an initial payment of $5 million and will also be eligible for additional future milestone payments and royalties from Corteva's future sales of the product.
Another major step for Lavie Bio was the recent announcement in February 2024 of the agreement with Syngenta for the discovery and development of new biological insecticide solution. The collaboration will leverage Lavie Bio's technology platform to rapidly identify and optimize bioinsecticide candidates. These two collaborations strengthen Lavie Bio's financial position and overall perception in the agriculture market. Now let's move from collaborations to product sales. Lavie Bio's first bio-inoculant Yalos achieved several impressive milestones. In May 2023, Yalos obtained regulatory approval from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, expanding itself territory significantly and tripling its reach. In November 2023, Yalos expanded its scope to include durum and barley varieties across the U.S. and Canada.
This expansion followed successful field trials in 2023, demonstrating an average of approximately 7% of yield increase in durum and barley. In December 2023, Lavie Bio secured an exclusive distribution agreement with WinField United Canada for Yalos aiming to drive sales growth in key Canadian agriculture regions including Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba. The focus of the distribution agreement is on spring wheat, durum and barley crops. Overall, Yalos made significant strides in regulatory approval, product expansion and distribution partnerships, positioning it as a valuable tool for enhancing productions and addressing environmental challenges in the agriculture industry. Looking forward to 2024, Lavie Bio will continue to focus on three main pillars: the first will be to grow the sales and distribution of the Company's bio-inoculant product Yalos in the U.S. and Canada.
The second is to continue driving the Company's pipeline of innovative product towards commercialization, including special focus on the Company's strategic partnership with Corteva, ICL and the recent one with Syngenta. The last pillar will be to continue advancing the Company's unique technology platform ability powered by Evogene MicroBoost AI tech engine with new tools and capabilities. Finalizing my review of our subsidiaries, I would like to update on economics, which provides tailored medical cannabis products. Following my previous update in Q3 2023 in which we noted that we have decided to reduce our investment in economics. Due to the challenging market conditions of the medical cannabis sector, we have recently engaged in advanced discussions relating to the potential transfer to a third party of Canonic's operations.
There is no assurance that such transfer will be completed or on what terms. We will continue to update you on this better. No doubt, 2023 was an exciting year for the Evogene Group filled with achievements. Looking forward to 2024, we expect that to see continued growth and additional collaborations benefiting from Evogene 3 AI tech engines. We ended 2023 with a solid cash balance of approximately $31.1 million and are expecting additional cash injections from collaborations and product sales. This concludes my review of the Evogene Group activities. Now Yoash Zohar, Casterra's new CEO, will take the leader.
Yoash Zohar: Thank you, Ofer, and good day, everyone. I would like to start by thanking the exceptional team at Casterra for welcoming me during this pivotal moment for the Company and expressing my sincere gratitude to the Evogene management for their support. As we face the challenges ahead, and feel with optimism, driven by the great potential we see in Casterra. Ensuring a reliable and stable supply of castor seeds is crucially meeting our customers' demand while contributing positively to local economies. Our recently signed agreements with seed producers in Africa and Brazil, strengthened our supply chain and market strategic change towards diversifying our production sources. I believe Evogene's innovative AI technology will play a crucial role in shaping the future of castor seeds, solidifying Casterra's position as a world leader in the field.
Together, I'm confident that we will leverage this technology to maintain Casterra's competitive edge and achieve on parallel success in the global market.
Yaron Eldad: Thank you, Yash. As of December 31, 2023, Evogene had consolidated cash, cash equivalents and short-term bank deposits of approximately $31.1 million. Evogene together with Casterra, Canonic and AgPlenus possessed an aggregate of $12.4 million in cash, Biomica $12.7 million and Lavie Bio $6 million. In July 2023, the Company entered into securities purchase agreements with institutional investors in a registered direct offering of shares only. The gross proceeds from the offering were approximately $8.5 million. Looking ahead to 2024, we expect an approximate cash usage of $8 million excluding Lavie Bio and Biomica, which is significant decline compared to $12.5 million in 2023. This decline is mainly attributable to an expected increase in revenue in 2024 and a decrease in expenses due to the decline in economic activity.
The total consolidated burn rate is expected to decline in 2023 as well to $21 million compared to $23.1 million in 2023. We do not have any bank debt. I would like now to highlight some specific items on the P&L. Revenues for 2023 were approximately $5.6 million in comparison to approximately $1.7 million in 2022. The increase in revenues was primarily due to $2.5 million generated by Lavie Bio as a licensing fee in the frame of its collaboration with Corteva as well as direct revenues recognized from Casterra sales of castor seed. R&D expenses for the fourth quarter of 2023, which are reported net of non-refundable grants received were approximately $5.5 million in comparison to approximately $4.8 million in the same period in the previous year.
R&D expenses for the full year 2023 were approximately $20.8 million and remained stable compared to 2022. The main contributors to R&D expenses during 2023 were Lavie Bio activities and Biomica's development efforts. Sales and marketing expenses for the fourth quarter of 2023 were approximately $1 million, reflecting a slight decrease compared to approximately $1.2 million in the same period the previous year. For the full year 2023, sales and marketing expenses were approximately $3.6 million in comparison to approximately $3.9 million in 2022. General and administrative expenses for the fourth quarter of 2023 were approximately $1.2 million in comparison to approximately $1.7 million in the same period in the previous year. For the full year 2023, general and administrative expenses were approximately $6.1 million in comparison to approximately $6.5 million in 2022.
The decrease was mainly attributed to the decrease in the cost of directors and officer's insurance. Other income in the fourth quarter of 2022, the Company received $3.5 million from Bayer under the joint seed trade collaboration agreement as part of a restructuring and release of the patent filing, prosecution and maintenance obligation under the collaboration. Operating loss for the fourth quarter of 2023 was approximately $7.6 million in comparison to an operating loss of approximately $3.8 million in the same period in the previous year. The increase in the operating loss was mainly due to the other income recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022, as mentioned above. Operating loss for the full year of 2023 was approximately $26.5 million in comparison to $26.9 million in 2022, mainly due to the significant increase of revenue in 2023, offset by the other income recorded in 2022.
Financing income, net for the fourth quarter of 2023 was approximately $287,000 compared to approximately $6,000 in the same period in the previous year. Financing income net for the full year 2023 was approximately $521,000 compared to financing expenses of approximately $2.8 million in the same period in the previous year. The difference between periods was mainly due to the U.S. dollar and the new Israeli shekel exchange rate, a change in the value of marketable securities and an interest income compared to the same period in the previous year. Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2023 was approximately $7.3 million in comparison to a net loss of approximately $3.8 million in the same period in the previous year. The increase in net loss during the fourth quarter of 2023 is mainly due to other income received in 2022, as mentioned above.
Net loss for the full year 2023 was approximately $26 million in comparison to a net loss of approximately $29.8 million for 2022. With that, both Ofer and I would now like to open the call for any questions you may have.
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