Evogene Ltd. Reports Third Quarter 2009 Financial Results

REHOVOT, ISRAEL--(Marketwire - November 19, 2009) -

Evogene Ltd. (TASE: EVGN) announced today its financial results for the third quarter, ended September 30, 2009.

Ofer Haviv, Evogene's president and CEO, stated: "During the third quarter of 2009, we continued advancing our R&D activities under our existing collaboration agreements with world leading seed companies. In order to support these and anticipated new collaborations, along with our own internal programs, we recently completed a significant expansion of our capacity in terms of staffing, facilities and equipment. This included a new greenhouse site for model and target plant growth at Kibutz Naan in Israel, and expansion of our molecular biology and tissue culture labs. With this significantly increased computational gene discovery and plant validation capacity and our strong cash position, we enthusiastically look forward to the continuing growth of our company."

Revenues for the first nine months ended September 30, 2009 were $7.4 million, compared to $1.1 million for the same period in 2008. Revenues for the third quarter of 2009 were $2.6 million, compared to $0.9 million for the same period in 2008. Revenues for the first nine months and third quarter of 2009 include revenues generated mainly under the collaboration with Monsanto.

Profit from ordinary operations for the first nine months of 2009 was $747 thousand, compared to a loss from ordinary operations of $5.0 million in the same period in 2008. Loss from ordinary operations for the third quarter of 2009 was $113 thousand, compared to a loss from ordinary operations of $2.3 million in the same period in 2008.

Total comprehensive loss for the first nine months ended September 30, 2009, was $3.0 million, or $0.11 per share, as a result of $5.0 million of non-cash financial expenses due to revaluation of certain non-employee options, primarily options issued in the 2007 IPO. These revaluations for accounting purposes reflect changes in the fair market value of Evogene ordinary shares and the market value of the options. This is compared to a total comprehensive loss of $9.1 million, or $0.44 per share, in the same period in 2008, including non-cash financial expenses of $4.3 million due to the revaluation of options.

Total comprehensive profit for the third quarter of 2009 was $2.1 million, or $0.07 per share, as a result of $1.3 million of non-cash financial income due to revaluation of certain non-employee options, primarily options issued in the 2007 IPO. This is compared to a total comprehensive loss of $7.6 million, or $0.35 per share, including non-cash financial expenses of $4.8 million due to the revaluation of options.

As of September 30, 2009, Evogene had approximately $39 million in cash, cash equivalents, cash deposits and short-term marketable securities, an increase of $10 million compared to $29 million as of December 31, 2008. This increase is mainly due to the exercise in the previous quarter of the company's outstanding Series 1 options that were issued as part of the company's IPO in June 2007.

About Evogene

Evogene is a world leading developer of improved plant traits. The company's proprietary product development platform combines state of the art computational gene discovery technology (The ATHLETE), plant and field validation capabilities and unique selection systems. Evogene's current programs focus on the improvement of key plant traits, such as yield and stress tolerance, and the improvement of plants specifically for biofuel uses. Evogene has collaboration and licensing agreements with world leading companies in the agro-biotech and alternative energy industries. 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

Dollar in thousands (except per share       As of
 data)                                   December 31   As of September 30
                                         -----------  --------------------
                                             2008       2009       2008
                                           Audited    Unaudited  Unaudited
                                         -----------  ---------  ---------

Current assets
  Cash and cash equivalents                   14,490     13,727     29,574
  Short term bank deposits and
   marketable securities                      14,883     25,290      2,512
  Account receivables                          1,890        549          -
  Other account receivables and prepaid
   expenses                                      322        317        117
                                         -----------  ---------  ---------
                                              31,585     39,883     32,203
                                         -----------  ---------  ---------

Non-current assets
  Investment in associate company                136          -          -
  Long term deposits                              22         28         18
  Property and equipment, net                  1,359      3,254        930
  Finance derivative                             585         47        113
  Intangible assets                              261        228        273
                                         -----------  ---------  ---------
                                               2,363      3,557      1,334
                                         -----------  ---------  ---------

Total Assets                                  33,948     43,440     33,537
                                         ===========  =========  =========

Current liabilities
  Current maturities of other long-term
   liabilities                           (*    3,927      4,010  (*  3,752
  Trade payable                                  403        587        292
  Liability related to traded warrants   (*      262          -  (*  2,705
  Other accounts payable and accruals            842        949      1,165
                                         -----------  ---------  ---------
                                               5,434      5,546      7,914
                                         -----------  ---------  ---------


Long-term  Liabilities:
  Liability related to finance lease             123        113        126
  Liability related to traded warrants   (*    2,388      4,487  (*  3,853
  Liability related to chief scientists
   grants                                      2,828      2,994      2,655
  Deferred revenues                      (*   13,556     11,071  (* 14,193
  Accrued severance pay, net                       9          9          9
                                         -----------  ---------  ---------
                                              18,904     18,674     20,836
                                         -----------  ---------  ---------

  Shareholders' Equity
   Share capital                                  67         80         67
   Premium on shares                          34,841     46,951     34,815
   Option Warrants                                72         72         72
   Other capital reserves                      2,788      3,289      2,624
   PUT Option                                 (4,433)    (4,433)    (4,433)
   Accumulated deficit                       (23,725)   (26,739)   (28,358)
                                         -----------  ---------  ---------
   Total equity capital                        9,610     19,220      4,787
                                         -----------  ---------  ---------

Total liabilities and shareholders'
 equity                                       33,948     43,440     33,537
                                         ===========  =========  =========
*) Reclassified




STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

Dollar in thousands (except per share data)

                      For the
                       Year      For the period of     For the period of
                     ended on  three months ended on  nine months ended on
                     ---------  --------------------  --------------------
                      December  September  September  September  September
                        31         30         30         30         30
                       2008       2009       2008       2009       2008
                      Audited   Unaudited  Unaudited  Unaudited  Unaudited
                     ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------

Revenues                 3,426      2,560        870      7,387      1,072

Cost of revenues         1,414      1,361        465      3,642        498
                     ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------

Gross profit             2,012      1,199        405      3,745        574
                     ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------

Operating expenses:
  Research and
   development, net      4,078        741      1,974      1,524      3,900
  Business development
   expenses                922        178        400        493        801
  General and
   administrative        1,160        393        344        981        857
                     ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------

Profit (Loss) from
 ordinary operation     (4,148)      (113)    (2,313)       747     (4,984)

Other income                 -         54          -         54          -
Financial income           449        759        391      1,260        290

Financial expenses         (73)       (21)         -        (41)      (140)

Financial income
 (expenses) due to
 Revaluation of
 Options                  (247)     1,314     (4,786)    (4,952)    (4,327)
Financial income
 (expenses) due to
 Revaluation of
 Obligation to the
 OCS                      (675)       130       (434)       (36)      (280)
Share of losses of
 an associate
 company                  (114)         -          -        (46)         -
                     ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------

Net Profit (loss)       (4,808)     2,123     (7,142)    (3,014)    (9,441)


Other Comprehensive
 income:
Currency translation
 adjustment of
 financial statement       293          -       (485)         -        293
                     ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------

  Total Comprehensive
   loss                 (4,515)     2,123     (7,627)    (3,014)    (9,148)
                     =========  =========  =========  =========  =========

  Profit (loss) per
   share (in dollar)     (0.22)      0.07      (0.35)     (0.11)     (0.44)
                     =========  =========  =========  =========  =========

Contact Information
Evogene:
Liat Cinamon
PR & IR Executive
E-mail: Email Contact
Tel: +972-8-931-1933

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