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Welcome to Evogene's First Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded May 20, 2026. 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 presentation contains forward-looking statements relating to future events and Evogene Ltd. The company may, from time to time, make other statements regarding our outlook or expectation for future financial or operating results and/or other measures regarding or affecting us that are considered forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the PSLRA, and other securities laws as amended. Statements that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as believe, expect, anticipate, should, planned, estimated, intend and potential or words of similar meaning. We are using forward-looking statements in this presentation when we discussed our value drivers, commercialization efforts and timing, product development and launches, estimated market size and milestones, pipeline as well as our capabilities and technology. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions and involve opinions about future events, involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict and are not guarantees of future performance, with a caution that certain important factors may affect the company's actual results and could cause such results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement that may be made in this presentation. Therefore, actual future events, performance or achievements and trends in the future 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 their control, including without limitation, the aftermath of the recent war between Israel and each of the terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah or other terrorist groups supported by Iran. Any destabilization in Israel, neighboring territories or the Middle East region, and those described in greater detail in Evogene's annual report on Form 20-F and in other information Evogene files and furnishes with the Israel Securities Authority and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including those factors under the heading Risk Factors. Except as required by applicable securities laws, we disclaim any obligation or commitment to update any information contained in this presentation or to publicly release the results of any revisions to any statement that may be made to reflect future events or developments or changes in expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions. The information contained herein does not constitute a prospectus or other offering document nor does it constitute or form part of any invitation or offer to sell or any solicitation of any invitation or offer to purchase or subscribe for any securities of Evogene or the company. Nor shall the information or any part of it or the fact of its distribution form the basis of or be relied on in connection with any action, contract, commitment or relating thereto or the securities of Evogene or the company. The trademarks included herein are the property of the owners thereof and are used for reference purposes only. Such use should not be construed as an endorsement of our products or services. With us on the line will be Ofer Haviv, President and CEO of Evogene, and Polina Ravzin, VP Finance of Evogene. Now I would like to turn the call over to Ofer Haviv. Mr. Haviv, please go ahead.
Thank you for joining Evogene's First Quarter 2026 analyst call. In today's call, I will focus on the significant progress Evogene has made over the past quarter and outline the company's key objectives for this year. Joining me for this part of the presentation are Dr. Gabi Tarcic, the company's Chief Development Officer; and Dr. Dan Gelvan, CEO of our subsidiary AgPlenus, which focuses on ag-chemical development. Following our remarks, our VP Finance, Polina Ravzin, will present the financial results. Then we will open the call for questions. As I stated in our previous call, Evogene's mission is clear and focused: to design novel, highly potent small molecules optimized across multiple parameters for drug development and chemicals by leveraging Campus AI, our computational generative AI engine. This mission is guided by a strong objective to direct Evogene's resources toward areas where we believe we can create the greatest substantial value. To execute this mission, we made two strategic decisions. The first was to focus all of our technology efforts on our proprietary generative engine, Campus AI. In this context, I would like to emphasize that we strongly believe that technological collaboration is essential for advancing our core platform. This belief was clearly demonstrated in the partnership we announced with Google in 2025. In this collaboration, we successfully developed a breakthrough generative engine capable of designing entirely new molecular structures — molecules that are not only highly novel, but also easier to synthesize and better aligned with multiple product development requirements. The second strategic decision was to streamline our business activity to concentrate on two high-impact markets where Campus AI provides a strong competitive advantage: pharma focused on small molecule drug discovery and agriculture focused on next-generation ag-chemicals. To maximize the value of our technology, we adopted a clear and consistent business model across both domains, which is built on two complementary channels. The first channel is establishing strategic collaborations with industry partners for early-stage product development; those collaborations help reduce both our scientific and financial risk while accelerating innovation. The second channel is the advancement of our own internally funded product pipeline. In this channel, our goal is to mature those programs further before entering partnerships, allowing us to secure stronger commercial terms with leading industry players. This slide highlights the collaborations and internal programs Evogene was advancing at the end of 2025. In agriculture, we established two strategic collaborations for herbicide development, one with Bayer and another with Corteva. At the same time, we continue advancing our internally funded program focused on a novel Septoria fungicide. It is important to note that Evogene's chemical activities began in 2018 and are carried out by our subsidiary AgPlenus. In parallel, our pharmaceutical activity focused on small molecule drug discovery was launched only at the beginning of 2025 as a division of Evogene. At the end of 2025, our first and only announced collaboration in this field was with Tel Aviv University, targeting therapies for metabolic diseases linked to protein aggregation in blood vessels. Now I would like to present the company's achievements over the last quarter and to date across those three areas: our core technology platform, our pharma activities and our chemical activities. We will begin by reviewing the achievements in the area of our core technology platform, Campus AI. In February this year, we announced our second collaboration with Google aimed at integrating agents into Campus. The collaboration is expected to enable capabilities that currently do not exist in the global small molecule discovery process. Our second collaboration with Google focused on developing advanced AI agents to solve complex scientific challenges. Success in this project will enable Evogene to automatically extract valuable insights from scientific publications and create proprietary data sets. These data sets will help us build highly accurate computational models for characterizing specific scientific parameters. We will then use those models to support the development of new molecules designed in accordance with the requirements of our target product profiles. Overall, these new capabilities are expected to significantly strengthen Evogene's technological leadership and competitive advantage. We will now proceed to reviewing the achievements and activities in the company's pharma division where the most significant growth occurred this year. In the first quarter of the year, the company announced three new collaboration agreements, two with biotech companies and one with an academic institution. In the following slides, Dr. Gabi Tarcic, Evogene CDO, will elaborate on each collaboration. Gabi?
Thank you, Ofer. I'm excited to share with you the progress in the Pharma division that has taken place since the beginning of the year. In February, we announced a new collaboration with Systasy Bioscience and Ludwig Maximilian University Hospital in Germany. This collaboration focuses on a novel biological target involved in neutrophil-driven hyperinflammatory diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), an area of significant unmet medical need. The collaboration, supported by the prestigious Eureka grant, brings together three complementary capabilities: Evogene's Campus AI engine, Systasy's proprietary pathway profiler technology for high-content functional validation in patient-specific models, and the clinical expertise of Ludwig Maximilian University Hospital. By integrating AI-driven molecular design, advanced functional biology and clinical insights from the earlier stages, we aim to accelerate the identification of high-quality drug candidates while building strong long-term therapeutic and commercial value. In January this year, we announced a collaboration with Unravel Biosciences that focuses on a newly discovered target for demyelinating disorders such as multiple sclerosis, to develop brain-penetrant therapies capable of restoring myelination and improving neurological function. Here, by combining Evogene's ChemPass drug design engine with Unravel's patient-derived molecular profiling capabilities, we are accelerating the identification of drug candidates and addressing a major unmet medical need in a large generative market exceeding $26 billion, thereby creating significant long-term partnering and commercial opportunities. This collaboration exemplifies the strategic partnerships we are pursuing by bringing together deep biological insight and Evogene's advanced computational chemistry platform to create differentiated first-in-class therapeutic opportunities with strong pharmaceutical licensing potential. In mid-February, we announced an additional collaboration that focuses on addressing chemotherapy resistance, one of the major challenges that limits the effectiveness of current cancer treatments, in collaboration with Dr. Mark Adams and the Queensland University of Technology in Australia. Together, we are targeting a newly identified cellular detoxification pathway that enables tumors to resist cancer therapy. The collaboration integrates Evogene's ChemPass AI generative molecular design engine with advanced cancer genomic expertise to develop novel small molecule inhibitors designed to restore treatment sensitivity by addressing a key resistance mechanism across multiple cancer types, including non-small cell lung cancer. This program has the potential to generate differentiated oncology candidates with strong clinical and commercial value. I am very proud to present for the first time the small molecule pipelines of Evogene's Pharma division, a growing and highly promising portfolio that reflects the strengths of our technology, innovation and strategic collaborations. We are encouraged by the advancement of the molecules generated in collaboration with our partners, and we look forward to seeing these programs progress rapidly into more advanced preclinical and clinical stages. At the same time, we expect additional high-potential projects to join this exciting pipeline, further expanding the opportunities ahead of us. Looking ahead, I am excited to continue sharing updates on meaningful progress we are making across these programs. With that, I would like to conclude my remarks and hand over the call back to Ofer.
Thank you, Gabi. We will conclude the update on the corporate core business activities with the status in the field of chemical development. Activities in this field are conducted through our subsidiary, AgPlenus. I will ask Dr. Dan Gelvan, AgPlenus CEO, to elaborate on the company's activities.
Thank you, Ofer. I'm pleased to provide an update on the status of AgPlenus activities since the beginning of 2026. The main progress has been in our internal project aimed at developing a fungicide for Septoria and I will elaborate on this topic on the coming two slides. But first, I would like to focus on an update regarding our collaboration with Bayer. While AgPlenus' collaboration with Bayer has yielded significant novel active compounds, thereby thoroughly validating our ability to optimize active molecules, it has now become evident that these candidates cannot be further developed due to issues pertaining to the biology of the target protein. As a result of this inherent target problem, we have amicably, together with Bayer, decided to terminate our research collaboration agreements. Based on the strong professional relationships established during this collaboration, we are now exploring potential opportunities for future collaborations that would leverage AgPlenus' computational chemistry capabilities, discovery platforms and molecule optimization expertise as demonstrated throughout this collaboration. I will be happy to update on the outcomes of these discussions in future updates. Within our internal development pipeline, we are making good progress in developing a new fungicide for Septoria, a disease caused by Zymoseptoria. We are working to address a major problem representing an annual market value of over $1.2 billion. Approximately 70% of fungicides applied to wheat in Europe are aimed at fighting wheat blotch. Concurrently, many existing products such as strobilurins are experiencing diminished efficacy as the disease develops resistance. This underscores the critical need for a new and effective solution. Our initial assessment was not promising as no structural data was available for the target protein — a common challenge in ag chemistry research aimed at overcoming resistance. We used homology modeling and structure-based development to characterize the active site. Utilizing this approach, the initial phase of molecule screening employing ChemPass AI selected 440 candidates for testing. Of these, only 11 met enzymatic inhibition thresholds and only 2 demonstrated antifungal activity. From these two in vitro and in vivo validated compounds and incorporating the negative results, utilizing active search in the subsequent phase of molecule screening that leveraged the data generated in the preceding stage, we selected 164 off-the-shelf molecules for purchase. Subsequently, 38 of these showed enzymatic inhibition and 5 demonstrated antifungal activity, demonstrating a clear improvement over the initial screen. Building on these insights, we moved to lead up-generation and generated 27 novel compounds, which were custom synthesized and tested over the past months. Of these, 25 met enzymatic inhibition thresholds and 15 also showed the desired biological activity, which represents a dramatic improvement. This progression illustrates how the integration of iterative experimental validation with AI-driven molecular design can transform limited early signals into a focused, high-quality lead set. We have high expectations for this program, and I will be pleased to update you on the progress we make in the coming quarters. I'm pleased to present and add AgPlenus' pipeline to that of Evogene's Pharma division. I believe that consolidating these two activities under a single technological platform will create strong synergy and mutual enrichment, thereby accelerating product development in both areas and strengthening our competitive advantage and value proposition across the two industries in which we operate. With that, I conclude my remarks and hand the presentation back to Ofer.
Thank you, Dan. Looking ahead, we anticipate meaningful progress across all three of the company's core areas of activity, reinforcing our growth trajectory and long-term value creation. With respect to our technology engine, we continue to strengthen our competitive edge through the expansion of additional technological collaborations, designed to further enhance our innovation capabilities and sustain our unique market advantage. Looking at our drug development activity for the pharmaceutical industry, we expect to advance our existing pipeline towards key value-creating milestones, establish new strategic collaborations with leading biotech companies and academic institutions, deepen relationships with global pharmaceutical companies and actively evaluate new opportunities to expand our internal drug development pipeline. With respect to our chemical development activity for the agriculture industry, we expect the continued advancement of our existing pipeline assets, formation of new collaborations with leading ag-chem companies and ongoing evaluation of opportunities to expand and strengthen our internal pipeline. Overall, we remain strongly focused on executing partnership expansion and pipeline development across all business areas, positioning the company for sustained growth and long-term success. With this, I conclude my part and hand over the discussion to Polina. This is her first time participating in a quarterly call, and I would like to wish her great success as the lead of Evogene's Finance Department. Good luck, Polina.
Thank you, Ofer. Before I move on to the update regarding the first quarter financial statements, I would like to provide an update on the activities of Evogene's subsidiaries that, in line with our bio-strategy, are no longer part of our core business. The companies that fall into this category are Lavie, Biomica and Costera. We will begin with an update regarding Lavie Bio and Biomica. We have decided to discontinue or significantly scale down Lavie Bio and Biomica. Lavie's activity, Evogene's subsidiary in the field of algae, was acquired by ICL in 2025. Lavie's operations were discontinued at the end of the first quarter of 2026; we are distributing the Romanian cash balance accumulated in the company as a result of the sale. The company expects to receive two additional payments under this transaction. With respect to Biomica, a subsidiary in the field of therapeutics based on the human microbiome, significant events have occurred in the beginning of the year. Biomica licensed its lead oncology candidate, BMC128, to Collision Pharmaceuticals in early 2026. BMC128 is currently completing a Phase I clinical trial. Biomica has received approval to distribute the company's remaining cash to its shareholders. We will continue to provide updates on these three entities in the coming quarter. We will now move on to the update regarding Costera, our subsidiary in the castor cultivation sector for oil production, byproducts and alternative energy. As previously noted, although this activity is not part of our core business, its activity is ongoing, and we are evaluating the potential primarily in Brazil. I would like to note that operations have also undergone a significant reduction in recent months in order to align its activities with Brazil only. As we noted in the previous quarter, we are evaluating the potential inherent in Costera's operations in Brazil. As part of this activity, we are pleased to report two significant events. In April, we reported strong results in terms of the economic performance of our varieties in commercial field trials in Brazil. In May, we reported that the company is conducting approximately field trials of our commercial castor varieties in seven target regions in Brazil under different cultivation regimes. We expect that this activity will form the basis for the commencement of sales of test seeds for the 2027 growing season. Now we will move on to present the company's financial statements for the first quarter of the year and we'll begin with the balance sheet. Let's start with our cash position. As of March 31, 2026, Evogene held consolidated cash, cash equivalents and short-term bank deposits of approximately $13.1 million. The consolidated cash usage during the first quarter was approximately $2.8 million. During the first quarter of 2026, Lavie received court approval for the distribution of a $4.25 million dividend to its shareholders. In April 2026, Biomica received court approval for the distribution of a $2.7 million dividend to its shareholders. Bonded distribution processes are expected to be completed in the second quarter of the year. In February 2026, Evogene entered into a warrant inducement agreement with an existing investor for the immediate exercise of all August 2024 Series A and Series B warrants, resulting in gross proceeds of approximately $3.4 million before fees and expenses. As consideration for the exercise, the investor received, in a private placement, new unregistered Series A-1 and Series B-1 warrants to purchase up to an aggregate 6,924 ordinary shares. The new warrants are immediately exercisable at an exercise price of $1.25 per share. The Series A-1 and Series B-1 warrants were classified as a liability in the consolidated statements of financial position, initially recorded at fair value and subsequently were measured at each reporting date using Black-Scholes option pricing model. As of March 31, 2026, the warrants liability totaled approximately $1.7 million. We will now focus on the income statement. Revenues for the first quarter of 2026 totaled approximately $0.3 million compared to approximately $2.3 million in the same period of 2025, representing a decrease of approximately $2 million. The decrease is mainly attributable to lower revenue recognized by Costera, which in the first quarter of 2025 included significant seed sales of approximately $2 million. Cost of revenues for the first quarter of 2026 was approximately $0.1 million compared to approximately $1.5 million in the corresponding period of 2025. The decrease in cost of revenues is consistent with the decline in revenues during the quarter. Research and development expenses, net of nonrefundable grants for the first quarter were approximately $1.8 million compared to approximately $2.5 million in the corresponding period of 2025, representing a decrease of approximately $0.7 million. The decrease is mainly attributable to lower R&D expenses in Biomica and AgPlenus. Sales and marketing expenses for the first quarter of 2026 and 2025 were approximately $0.4 million with no material change between the periods. General and administrative expenses for the first quarter of 2026 remained stable at approximately $1.2 million compared to the corresponding period of 2025. Although there was a material decrease in the company's G&A expenses, it was substantially offset by the impact of exchange rate fluctuations between the U.S. dollar and the NIS as well as transaction costs related to the warrant inducement transaction. Other income, net, of approximately $30,000 was recorded in the first quarter of 2026, mainly attributable to the sale of fixed assets compared to other income of approximately $191,000 recorded in the first quarter of 2025, which was mainly related to the accounting treatment associated with a sale. Operating loss for the first quarter of 2026 was approximately $3.2 million compared to approximately $3 million in the corresponding period of 2025. The increase in operating loss is mainly due to decreased revenues, partially offset by lower operating expenses as described above. Financing expenses, net, for the first quarter of 2026 were approximately $2.7 million compared to financing income, net, of approximately $1.1 million in the corresponding period of 2025. The change was primarily attributable to the accounting treatment of pre-funded warrants and warrants issued in August 2024 fundraising and warrants issued in February 2026 in the transaction. As part of the February 2026 warrant inducement transaction, the company recorded financial expenses of approximately $3.8 million during the first quarter of 2026, partially offset by financial income of approximately $0.9 million related to the revaluation of options. Income from discontinued operations, net, for the first quarter was approximately $40,000 compared to a loss from discontinued operations, net, of approximately $1.1 million in the corresponding period of 2025. This amount primarily reflects the financial results of the divested operations as well as expenses related to the development and maintenance of AI for Ag, which are presented in a single line item in the consolidated statement of profit and loss. Following the sale of the majority of the bus assets as well as Avogadro and ForUp in July 2025, Lavie no longer maintains the same operating expense level and its operating expense level has decreased significantly. Net loss for the first quarter of 2026 was approximately $5.9 million compared to approximately $3 million in the same period last year. The increase was mainly due to the decrease in revenues and increase in net financing expenses, partially offset by a decrease in operating expenses and a reduced loss from discontinued operations, net. I'll now conclude my remarks, and we will open the call for questions.
分析師問答
When can you sign a strategic deal with a tech partner, pharma partner, or a partner that would include an investment into the shares?
This is Ofer. And I say that this question came from Patrick, which I'm really happy to hear from him. It's been a while we were in contact. Well, I think that trying to project when such a transaction could take place depends on the progress and results we achieve in the different areas that you mentioned: AG, Pharma or the technology itself. I think that since Evogene is highly active in the ag sector, and we already have solid and over there some very significant results as presented today by Dan, I tend to believe that this is one of the first areas where we can see a strategic transaction that might not necessarily, but might also include equity investment. But definitely, it should be something that is meaningful for the plan and also, of course, definitely for Evogene. So this is one of the areas that I believe could represent a catalyst in the near future. The next area actually is technology. I believe that over there, since we are working with some big names, company strategy Google, and I can also maybe disclose that we are talking with some other companies in the same space as Google where we are looking to further collaborate with them and expand our technology advantage. I think that these types of companies similar to Google could be another area that maybe after the course of time could lead to a significant transaction. In the pharma, once again, I was asked to emphasize the point that we initiated our activity there only at the beginning of 2025. And the fact that today, we have actually four ongoing collaborations in this area and we are now talking with some other potential partners, it's very, very impressive, and I'm really excited about it. Still, in order to convince the big pharma or the big biotech companies to adopt our technology in a way that it will lead to a significant transaction and equity investment — it will take a while. I'm not talking about many years, but I'm not talking about the next few quarters either. The good news is that we have already started discussions with big pharma. Of course, I cannot disclose the names at this date — there is interest in what we are doing. And I believe that when we start to see results coming from our ongoing collaborations in this market segment, it will be much easier for us to start to build a relationship with the big pharma companies, which action hopefully, can lead to the type of strategic collaboration that will also involve equity investment. So I think that we are in the right direction. And actually, each segment reinforces the prospects of the other segments. So success in ag will feed success in the technology segment. And of course, both of them will feed the progression of success for such an engagement with big pharma in the pharmaceutical industry. I hope that addressed your question.
There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Haviv, would you like to make your concluding statement?
Yes. Thank you, and I really appreciate the time of all the people that participated in this analyst call. We are all looking forward to continue to update you on the progress, and I really hope we will continue with the same speed of new collaborations and agreements like we did at the beginning of this year. Thank you very much.
This concludes Evogene's First Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call. Thank you for your participation. You may go ahead and disconnect.