Evogene Ltd. Reports First Quarter 2010 Financial Results

REHOVOT, ISRAEL--(Marketwire - May 13, 2010) -

Evogene Ltd. (TASE: EVGN) announced today its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010.

Ofer Haviv, Evogene’s president and CEO, stated: “During the past quarter, we continued to progress under our current collaborations with world leading seed companies, including Bayer CropScience, Monsanto, Pioneer/Dupont and Syngenta. In addition, during the past quarter, we announced a continuation agreement with Biogemma, a company in the Limagrain group, for development and commercialization by Biogemma of Evogene’s yield and drought tolerance genes in corn. This new agreement follows results of a joint evaluation of the genes in corn field trials in both the United States and Israel.”

Mr. Haviv continued: “In addition, during the past quarter, we continued to enhance our R&D capabilities, primarily with new computational techniques and tools being developed for the ATHLETE core technology for gene discovery -- which is the basis for most of our current activities; the RePack core technology under development for prediction of biological regulatory features of genes; and the EvoBreed core technology under development for significantly accelerating breeding processes through the incorporation of advanced computational tools. We also achieved progress in our biofuel program, which is currently focused on the development of castor as feedstock for biodiesel and biojet fuels. This progress included expanding the field evaluation of the castor lines under development to the target locations for future commercialization -- Texas and Brazil -- and demonstrating the sustainability of castor growth through the completion of a Life Cycle Analysis.”

Revenues for the first quarter of 2010 were $2.7 million, compared to $2.4 million reported for the same period in 2009.

Loss from ordinary operations for the first quarter of 2010 was $181 thousand, compared to a profit from ordinary operations of $624 thousand in the same period in 2009. The loss from ordinary operations in the first quarter of 2010 is mainly due to increase in Research & Development expenses, which totaled $939 thousand in the first quarter of the year compared to $340 thousand in the first quarter last year. Such increase in Research & Development expenses is due to the expansion of the company’s internal projects, mainly development of new core computational technologies and resulting increase in staff to support these projects.

Total comprehensive loss for the first quarter of 2010 was $3.7 million, or $0.14 per share, compared to $1.4 million, or $0.06 per share, in the same period in 2009. The comprehensive loss for the first quarter of 2010 includes $3.6 million of non-cash financial expenses, compared to $1.5 million for the same period in 2009. These non-cash charges are due primarily to the revaluation for accounting purposes of the publicly traded options issued in the 2007 IPO due to the increase in market price of the Company’s ordinary shares during such time periods.

As of December 31, 2009, Evogene had $37.8 million in cash, cash equivalents, cash deposits and short-term marketable securities, compared to $38.2 million as of December 31, 2009.

About Evogene
Evogene is a world leading developer of improved plant traits for the agriculture and biofuel industries through the use of plant genomics. The company’s technology platform is based on a unique computational core technology for gene discovery, the ATHLETE, and high throughput systems for gene validation. Evogene’s development programs focus on the improvement of high-commercial value plant traits, such as yield, biotic and a-biotic stresses tolerance, and the improvement of plants specifically for biofuel uses. Evogene is collaborating with world leading seed companies in order to introduce its technology into key commercial crops. Evogene’s headquarters are in Rehovot, Israel, and its stock is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE: EVGN). For additional information, please visit Evogene’s website at www.evogene.com.

This press release contains “forward-looking statements.” These statements include words like “may,” “expects,” “believes,” “scheduled” and “intends,” and they describe opinions about future events. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Evogene Ltd. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

BALANCE SHEETS

 As of December Dollar in thousands (except per share data) 31 As of March 31 ---------- -------------------- 2009 2010 2009 Audited Unaudited Unaudited ---------- --------- ---------- Current assets Cash and cash equivalents 26,215 32,231 4,905 Short term bank deposits and marketable securities 12,024 5,558 24,997 Account receivables 558 528 478 Other account receivables 345 410 303 ---------- --------- ---------- 39,142 38,727 30,683 ---------- --------- ---------- Non-current assets Investment in associate company - - 102 Prepaid expenses 25 28 28 Property and equipment 3,440 3,553 2,178 Finance derivative 57 3 334 Intangible assets 217 206 251 ---------- --------- ---------- 3,739 3,790 2,893 ---------- --------- ---------- Total Assets 42,881 42,517 33,576 ========== ========= ========== Current liabilities Current maturities of other noncurrent liabilities 4,082 4,268 3,841 Trade payable 675 998 590 Liability related to traded warrants - - 793 Other accounts payable and accruals 999 1,142 797 ---------- --------- ---------- 5,756 6,408 6,021 ---------- --------- ---------- Non Current Liabilities Liability related to finance lease 117 - 122 Liability related to traded warrants 4,349 7,870 3,133 Liability related to chief scientists grants 3,293 3,277 3,052 Deferred revenues 10,018 8,966 12,752 Accrued severance pay, net 9 9 9 ---------- --------- ---------- 17,786 20,122 19,068 ---------- --------- ---------- Shareholders’ Equity Share capital 80 80 68 Premium on shares 47,058 47,101 35,018 Option Warrants 72 72 72 Other capital reserves 3,696 4,050 2,863 PUT Option (4,433) (4,433) (4,433) Accumulated deficit (27,134) (30,883) (25,101) ---------- --------- ---------- 19,339 15,987 8,487 ---------- --------- ---------- Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity 42,881 42,517 33,576 ========== ========= ========== 

STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

Dollar in thousands (except per share data)

 For the Year For three month period ended on ended on ------------ -------------------------- March 31 March 31 December 31, 2010 2009 2009 Audited Unaudited Unaudited ------------ ------------- ------------ Revenues 9,993 2,685 2,385 Cost of revenues 4,962 1,310 1,006 ------------ ------------ ------------ Gross profit 5,031 1,375 1,379 ------------ ------------ ------------ Operating expenses: Research and development, net 2,569 939 340 Business development 739 200 144 General and administrative 1,457 417 271 ------------ ------------ ------------ Profit (Loss) from ordinary operation 266 (181) 624 Other (expenses) income 54 (54) - Financial income 1,402 169 255 Financial expenses (54) (15) (529) Financial expenses due to Revaluation of Options (4,814) (3,574) (1,530) Financial expenses due to Revaluation of Obligation to the OCS (217) (94) (162) Share of losses of an associate company (46) - (34) ------------ ------------ ------------ Net loss (3,409) (3,749) (1,376) ------------ ------------- ------------ Total Comprehensive loss (3,409) (3,749) (1,376) ============ ============ ============ Loss per share (in dollar) (0.13) (0.14) (0.06) ============ ============ ============