#Israel #Rehovot #MicroBoost AI #Evogene Ltd #ChemPass-AI

Evogene Reports First Quarter 2025 Financial Results

Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ: EVGN, TASE: EVGN), a leading computational biology company focused on pioneering life-science products, revealed its financial results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2025. The company has been navigating a strategic transformation aimed at fostering growth while enhancing its operational efficiency.

In the first quarter of 2025, Evogene experienced total revenues of approximately $2.4 million, a notable decline from $4.2 million in the same quarter the previous year. The revenue drop is largely attributed to a strong performance in Q1 2024, which had included license fee payments totaling $3.5 million from its subsidiaries, Lavie Bio and AgPlenus. Despite this decrease, Casterra, another of Evogene’s subsidiaries, significantly bolstered seed sales, becoming a primary revenue driver.

October 2024 marked the inception of an expense reduction strategy, which is anticipated to culminate by Q2 2025. This initiative has already begun to yield results, reflected in the financial figures of Q1 2025, particularly in R&D and marketing expenses that have seen considerable retraction. For instance, R&D expenditures dropped to approximately $3.2 million from around $4.8 million year-over-year due to scaled-back activities at Lavie Bio and Biomica. Similarly, sales and marketing costs dipped to $0.6 million from $1.0 million.

Evogene’s total operating expenses witnessed a decline as well, reported at approximately $5 million compared to $8 million from the previous year. The reduced operating costs are crucial for the company’s sustainable financial health as it undertakes restructuring in line with its strategic priorities.

One major step towards this goal includes the announcement from April 21, 2025, regarding the acquisition by ICL of Lavie Bio's operations for $15.25 million, alongside MicroBoost AI for Ag valued at $3.5 million. The completion of this acquisition is expected in Q2 2025, further enhancing Evogene's financial landscape and shareholder value.

As of the end of Q1 2025, Evogene's available cash reserves and short-term deposits totaled about $9.8 million, which interestingly included approximately $5.5 million allocated to Biomica. The reported balances uphold the company's operational capabilities while it anticipates incoming funds from various sources, including outstanding customer dues, which are likely to bolster its cash flow.

Mr. Ofer Haviv, Evogene’s President and CEO, commented on the company’s strategic focus to enhance value extraction and operational efficiency. "Our emphasis lies in two main aspects: fully unlocking the capabilities of our ChemPass-AI tech-engine within the pharmaceutical sector and fostering cash flow generation alongside strategic value from our subsidiaries," he elaborated.

The ChemPass-AI tech-engine continues to be a keystone of Evogene's growth strategy, honing in on small molecule drug discovery. Over the past quarter, Evogene has made strides in collaboration efforts, particularly with Google Cloud, to advance their proprietary AI platform aimed at facilitating the development of highly effective novel compounds.

In conjunction with these internal strategies, Evogene remains focused on leveraging its subsidiaries for better financial outcomes. Lavie Bio’s acquisition was only the beginning as the company seeks other strategic opportunities to unlock shareholder value across their subsidiary spectrum. The objective is to position Evogene firmly within the biotechnology landscape for sustained and strategic growth.

In conclusion, while Evogene navigates a challenging financial landscape characterized by revenue contraction, it remains resolute in its strategic efforts to enhance profitability, operational efficiency, and shareholder value. The ongoing initiatives and partnerships, alongside rigorous expense management, set the stage for a trajectory geared towards future success in the life sciences domain.