Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Evogene’s Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results Conference Call. All participants are at present in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. 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, risks and uncertainties regarding business strategy, operations and future performance and results of Evogene. I encourage you to review Evogene’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and read the note regarding forward-looking statements in today’s earnings release, which states that statements made in the earnings release and in a similar way, on this earnings conference call that are not historical facts maybe deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For example, Evogene is using forward-looking statements in this call when it discusses its expected path to value creation, including potential fundraisings at the subsidiary level, its and its subsidiaries, expected trials and their expected results, studies, product advancements, commercialization, launches, pipelines, milestones, potential collaborations and other plans for 2023 and beyond, expected burn rate, the potential advantages of its technology and its anticipated entry into new fields of activity. All forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date of the announcement of results. Many of the factors that impact whether forward-looking statements will come true are beyond the control of Evogene and may cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results. Evogene is under no obligation to update publicly or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law. We expressly disclaim any obligation to do so. More detailed information about the risk factors potentially adversely impacting our performance can be found in our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That said I would now like to turn over the call to Ofer Haviv, Evogene’s CEO. Ofer, please go ahead.

Thank you for joining Evogene’s fourth quarter earnings call and full year 2022 results. I would like to welcome all of you. I want to review Evogene’s achievements in 2022 and provide you with an update on our activities as well as potential catalysts during the next 12 months. Following my review, Evogene’s Executive Vice President of Business Development, Eyal Ronen, who also served as CEO of our subsidiary, Casterra, will give an update on Casterra’s activity. Evogene’s CFO, Yaron Eldad, will provide a financial summary and update. After that, we will open the Q&A session. Evogene has been using its AI-driven computational predictive biology platform to divest and accelerate the discovery and development of life science-based products ranging from microbiome therapeutics in humans to wide range of agriculture applications to medical cannabis. Our AI-driven computational biology tech engines support further development in our five main subsidiaries. In addition, Evogene has an internal feed rate division. And recently, on December 8, we announced that we would receive a $3.5 million payment from Bayer relating to Evogene’s patent portfolio under its trade collaboration with Bayer. Evogene is focusing on developing three AI-driven tech engines. MicroBoost AI, supporting microbe-based products, Kempas AI, supporting small molecules based products and Generator AI, supporting products based on modifying genetic elements. The goal of our tech-engines is to identify the most promising candidate or mix of candidates that meets specifically desired life science product criteria and to support the candidate’s development process leading to a commercial product. By doing so, we are solving an urgent biological or chemical problem, providing a solution that will address a substantial need and hopefully create significant commercial value. I would like to emphasize that whenever we are identifying a specific microbe, genes or small molecule, there is always a huge…

Thank you, Ofer. First, I would like to start by saying how excited I am to have joined the Evogene Group and I am very pleased to take part in this call. Prior to my review of Casterra’s activity and recent achievements, I would like to emphasize Casterra’s offering to our clients’ future. The increased use of fossil fuels with high-carbon footprint in the rest of the world significantly contributes to long-term global warming, ultimately leading to harsher weather conditions and increasing the risk to human sustainability. Furthermore, the significant growth in emerging economies leading to increases in demand fo energy will also pose increased challenges. Biofuels and biopolymers are a part of the solution, helping to reduce the carbon footprint by reduced greenhouse gas emissions and supporting the growing needs for sustainable renewable energy and polymers. Casterra is a subsidiary of Evogene and as mentioned by Ofer, it focuses on developing a complete solution to growing castor on commercial scale. The company was established in 2008 initially by the name Evofuel, which later changed to Casterra to reflect the focus on the promising crop of castor as a ready source for bio-based materials, whether for biofuels or biopolymers. As the world looks to replace fossil fuel with biological friendly and sustainable source, we foresee an increase in the market for castor oil. Castor beans represent the highest energy return to growth as they have high oil content, approximately 50% can go on marginal lands, meaning that they pose no competition on land which can support other edible crops and support environmentally-friendly cultivation practices. From a regulation perspective, the crop aligns with the recent EU regulation supported replacement of palm oil to low indirect land use change or ILUC crops, such as castor. Castor oil and its derivatives are estimated…

Thank you, Eyal. I will now provide the financial summary. Evogene continues to maintain a solid financial position for its activities with approximately $35 million in consolidated cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of December 31, 2022. This amount does not include the $10 million investment in Biomica by SHC that is expected to be closed in the coming weeks. Approximately, $9.7 million of Evogene’s consolidated cash is appropriated to its subsidiary, Lavie Bio. We do not have any bank debt. During the fourth quarter of 2022, the consolidated cash usage was approximately $2.6 million or approximately $400,000, excluding Lavie Bio. For 2022, our consolidated cash burn usage was $28.5 million or approximately $20 million, excluding Lavie Bio. For 2022, our consolidated cash burn usage was $28.5 million or approximately $20 million, excluding Lavie Bio. The consolidated cash usage for 2022, included financing expenses in the amount of $2.3 million due to the U.S. dollar net exchange rate differences and a decrease in the market value of marketable securities in the amount of $800,000. Looking ahead to 2023, excluding any impact from foreign exchange differences and the change in market value for marketable securities, we expect a consolidated cash burn rate to be in the range of $27 million to $29 million. I would like to now to highlight some specific items on the P&L. Revenues for the fourth quarter were $660,000 in comparison to $311,000 in the same period the previous year. Revenues for 2022 were $1.7 million in comparison to $900,000 in 2021. The increase in revenues was primarily due to revenues recognized for the collaboration agreement of Evogene subsidiary out planning with Corteva as well as revenues from the sales of Canonic’s medical cannabis products in Israel. R&D expenses for the fourth quarter of 2022, which…

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Kristen Kluska of Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead.

Hi. Good morning and good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. Two from me. First question is, which subsidiaries do you think there is the greatest potential for external validation through partnerships and collaborations this year? And then for Lavie Bio, you cited in the print your expectation that sales could be significantly expanded in the 2023 spring season. So, what gives you confidence in that statement? And to that expectations do you have a range or any color you could provide about how you are thinking internally on goals for sales here?

Hi Kristen, this is Ofer, and thank you for participating in our analyst call. So, I think that the Lavie Bio is probably the company that I would expect that I can engage with a significant licensing agreement. They have a nice and very promising product pipeline, which some of it reached to product maturity stage. And I can also mention that even with existing products in the market, there will be interest from big distributors to engage in a long-term relationship with Lavie Bio around this product. So, I think that the Lavie Bio is probably the company that I think that’s entering to this type of agreement. The other company is probably AgPlenus that made quite a significant jump during last year. So, this is the company that is fair to say that they can engage in long-term collaboration, but there could obviously positive surprise and maybe other companies can enter into such relationship. With respect to Lavie Bio sales, so we didn’t disclose numbers, but we are assuming that last year, the number that was for the soft launch. So, this year we are talking about a number that is going to be material, it will be bio, but it won’t be material to Evogene. It’s a company that’s material for Lavie Bio. And still it will be probably what I can say, a full commercial scale now, which will put us in a great position for next year that it could be even more than what we are going to see this year. So, to summarize, it will be material for Lavie Bio, maybe not for the whole company. And we are now probably going to initiate the active sales process in the next few weeks. We are going to initiate it.

Got it. Thanks very much.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from Brett Reiss of Janney Montgomery Scott. Please go ahead.

Well. Hi Ofer and the team. Question is on the castor seed. As I understand that you make the mother line of seed in Israel and then you transfer these embryonic seeds to your two subsidiaries that actually grow out the seed. Have you actually shipped the mother line of seed to these subsidiaries and when did you ship them?

Okay. So, before I will let Eyal to answer the question, I will just – we will make a small correction. We don’t have subsidiaries that are producing for us the seed. The seed producer is a company that we are working with them, one in Brazil and one in Africa. So, they produce for us the seed, but they are not subsidiaries of Evogene, or Casterra. Eyal, maybe you can take the lead on it.

Yes. Hi Jeff. I would like to refer to your first and as Ofer also said correctly, we do the bridging in Israel. And the production is obviously after the proprietary seeds are being sent to those territories, the production is done on site. So, we have a production site in Brazil and another one in Zambia. We do also produce in Israel, but that’s minor quantities. Mainly we have site for bridging all the other productions are located in the center where they could distribute it in the surrounding environment. So, that’s in Latin America and in Africa.

And the way that we protect ourselves, so in each stage, we have what is called bridging line [ph] where we are planning for a genomic profile of our variety in the relevant territories that people to not just start to sell different types of seeds like us. So, this is one protection. The second protection is that the farmers that we are selling them the seeds, they also signed on an agreement, they have the right to use the seed only for one season. And the last is that what we are offering to our partners, to the farmers, and we are working with big farmers is not just the seed, it’s also the full package, which includes also technical support in the dehulling machine, the harvesting machine. And of course, that we are all the time focusing on developing new variety that are going to replace the existing one with a better performance with respect to yield or any other traits which are important for the farmers.

Alright. I appreciate that. Just circling back because I didn’t frame the question in the best way. The two independent contractors in Brazil and Zambia that you have the relationship where they grow out the seed. Have you, in fact shipped some of the mother line of seed to them? And if so, when did you ship it? When has the clock ticking on the development of these seeds?

They – each one of those partners already received the original, what is called the – I don’t know what is the name of it, but the regional seeds in order to start to produce the seed themselves and both of them already produced during 2022, actually, they already produced seeds that some of them or a bit imported from them, we sold to this world lead energy company as we disclosed at the end of 2022.

Okay. Great. Thank you for taking my questions.

The next question is from Brian Wright of ROTH Capital. Please go ahead.

Thanks. Good afternoon. Just a real quick question and I apologize if I missed this, but I was wondering if you could help with kind of sizing the sequential growth between the payment from [indiscernible] Canonic, if you could kind of give us some help with understanding the scale of the drivers.

Can you repeat your question because it wasn’t very clear.

Sure. So, I wanted to understand, when you look at the sequential growth in revenue, if you want to kind of wait – kind of what was the bigger driver of that sequential growth? Was it the key mix there or was it the growth from just Canonic?

Okay. So, it’s 3.5%, and it’s completely in a separate line. If you look at the operating expenses, you will see that there is one line that actually is an income, and this is the $3.5 million. And this is separate from the revenue. The revenue is coming mainly from Canonic activity and from ex licensing agreement. Only a small portion is from Lavie Bio. And this is why I said that this year, it will reach our forecast. This year, it will be a material number for Lavie Bio. So, it was the modest number last year, this year it’s going to be much more significant.

Great. Thanks so much for the clarifications. Thank you.

Thank you.

There are no further questions at this time. Before I ask Mr. Ofer Haviv to go ahead with his closing statement, I would like to remind participants that a replay of this call is scheduled to begin two hours after the conference. In the U.S., please call 1-888-326-9310. In Israel, please call 03-925-5901. Internationally, please call 9-723-925-5901. Mr. Haviv, would you like to make your concluding statements?

Yes. Thank you all for joining the call today. We look forward to updating you with our progress in our next call. Thank you very much.

Thank you. This concludes Evogene’s fourth quarter 2022 results conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may go ahead and disconnect.