Woburn, Massachusetts, USA
March 16, 2021
Source
Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. (Nasdaq:YTEN), an agricultural bioscience company, today reported financial results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2020.
"In 2020 we continued to execute our business plan, and successfully achieved key milestones required to utilize Camelina as a platform crop to produce fuel, food and PHA bioplastic," said Oliver Peoples, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Yield10 Bioscience. “Among our key accomplishments in 2020 was securing the collaboration with Rothamsted Research for the exclusive option to commercialize advanced omega-3 (DHA+EPA) technology developed as a sustainable solution for the aquaculture market. This technology has high product revenue potential and fills a critical gap in our portfolio between current Camelina seed products and new products from our PHA bioplastic variety currently in development. In 2020, we also advanced E3902, a CRISPR genome-edited high oil content trait, through two cycles of scale up and demonstrated proof of concept for producing PHA bioplastic in the seed of field grown Camelina.
"Permitting for our 2021 field tests is underway for sites in the U.S. and Canada. We plan to scale up our two best PHA Camelina lines for pilot seed processing and product prototyping activities, designed for use in water treatment and bioplastics. In addition, we plan to further scale up seed production of E3902 to enable larger scale planting as early as 2022.
“Having secured an option on the omega-3 technology and achieved proof of concept for PHA production in 2020, Yield10 now controls two high value Camelina product technologies providing us with strong market differentiation. The plan going forward is to launch these products sequentially. For this reason, in 2021, we have placed increased emphasis on the development of elite Camelina winter and spring varieties incorporating key agronomic or input traits including herbicide tolerance and disease resistance. These traits will have priority resourcing going forward as they will be critical for enabling large acreage adoption of the crop. We believe that this elite germplasm will provide a robust commercial foundation for our omega- 3 and PHA bioplastic traits.
“To create option value for our performance traits, we are providing access to our novel trait discoveries through research license agreements to leading seed companies, enabling them to evaluate our traits in the major commercial crops. Our GRAIN platform continues to produce new insights into plant metabolism and identifying new targets for improving crop content and performance. We will continue to engage our research licensees and support their efforts evaluating traits identified using the GRAIN platform. In 2021, we will also support activities at Rothamsted Research directed towards the ongoing development and evaluation of omega-3 (DHA+EPA) Camelina lines. Achieving our goal of making omega-3 oils through a sustainable, land-based method could drive demand in the aquaculture feed market."
"Our rigorous financial discipline and strategic deployment of cash investment in our business in 2020, coupled with the addition of new capital in early 2021, significantly strengthens our balance sheet to drive forward and build value in our Camelina business over the next two years," said Peoples.
Recent Accomplishments
- Signed collaboration with Rothamsted Research for advanced omega-3 oil technology
- Signed research license with GDM for testing traits in soybean
- Strengthened the balance sheet to extend cash runway to achieve value building milestones
- Raised $12.0 million in net proceeds in a public offering of common stock and received cash proceeds of $3.9 million from warrant exercises in early 2021
- Achieved proof-of-concept milestone for producing PHA in field grown Camelina plants
- Conducted two cycles of seed scale up for CRISPR E3902 Camelina (US mid-west, California)
- Defined the target trait stack for our core, elite Camelina germplasm collection
- Collected agronomic and other performance data on C3004 and C3007 events in Camelina in 2020 field tests
- Recently granted U.S. patents on C3003 and C3007 traits
COVID-19 Impact on Operations. The Company has implemented business continuity plans to address the COVID-19 pandemic and minimize disruptions to ongoing operations. To date, despite the pandemic, we have been able to move forward with the operational steps required to execute our 2021 field trials in Canada and the United States. It is possible, however, that any potential future closures of our research facilities, should they continue for an extended time period, could adversely impact our anticipated time frames for evaluating and/or reporting data from our field trials and other work we have planned to accomplish during 2021 and beyond.
FULL YEAR AND FOURTH QUARTER 2020 FINANCIAL OVERVIEW
Cash Position
Yield10 Bioscience is managed with an emphasis on cash flow and deploys its financial resources in a disciplined manner to achieve its key strategic objectives.
Cash used by operating activities during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 remained consistent at $8.7 million. During 2020, Yield10 completed concurrent public and private securities offerings, raising a total of $5.3 million, net of offering costs, and received cash proceeds from warrants exercised during the year of $1.7 million. As a result, the Company ended 2020 with $9.7 million in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. The Company anticipates net cash usage during 2021 in a range of approximately $10.0 - $11.0 million.
Subsequent to the Company's December 31, 2020 year-end, it raised another $12.0 million in cash from the sale of common stock, net of offering costs, and received cash proceeds of $3.9 million from further warrant exercises. The Company's present capital resources, including funds received in early 2021, are expected to fund its planned operations into the first quarter of 2023.
Operating Results
Research grant revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $0.8 million, consistent with the $0.8 million recorded in the previous year. Research and development expense was $5.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $4.8 million recorded for the year ended December 31, 2019. General and administrative expenses were $5.0 million and $4.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Yield10 reported a loss from operations of $9.6 million for the full year 2020 as compared to a loss from operations of $8.6 million in 2019. For the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company reported a net loss after taxes of $10.2 million, or $4.30 per share, in comparison to a net loss after taxes of $13.0 million, or $35.50 per share, during the year ended December 31, 2019. The greater after tax loss in 2019 was the result of non-cash and other charges related to the Company's securities offering completed in November 2019 and reported under other income (expense) as described below.
Total research grant revenues were $0.2 million and $0.1 million during the fourth quarters of 2020 and 2019, respectively. Research and development expense increased by $0.2 million from $1.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 to $1.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. General and administrative expenses remained consistent at $1.4 million during both the fourth quarters ended December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019.
Yield10 reported a loss from operations of $2.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to $2.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. The Company also reported a net loss after taxes of $2.6 million, or $0.79 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to a net loss after taxes of $6.8 million, or $12.02 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2019. The reduction in net loss of $4.2 million during the quarter ended December 31, 2020 is the result of non-cash and other charges related to the Company's securities offering completed during the fourth quarter of the previous year.
Other Income (Expense)
During the year ended December 31, 2020, a non-cash charge of $1.0 million was recorded within other income (expense) related to a change in fair value of the Company's warrant liability that was initially recorded in connection with the Company's November 2019 securities offerings. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company also recognized $0.3 million in loan forgiveness income within other income (expense) in connection with a Paycheck Protection Act Loan issued under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the loss on issuance of securities of $13.0 million, offering costs of $1.3 million, and the reported gain of $9.5 million resulting from the change in fair value of the Company's warrant liability, relate to the Company's accounting for its November 2019 securities offerings.
About Yield10 Bioscience
Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. is an agricultural bioscience company that is using its differentiated trait gene discovery platform, the “Trait Factory”, to develop improved Camelina varieties for the production of proprietary seed products, and to discover high valuable genetic traits for the agriculture and food industries. Our goals are to efficiently establish a high value seed products business based on developing superior varieties of Camelina for the production of feedstock oils, nutritional oils, and PHA bioplastics, and to license our yield traits to major seed companies for commercialization in major row crops, including corn, soybean and canola. Yield10 is headquartered in Woburn, MA and has an Oilseeds Center of Excellence in Saskatoon, Canada.
For more information about the company, please visit www.yield10bio.com, or follow the Company on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. (YTEN-E)
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