REG - Eden Research plc - Trading Update

Eden ResearchAnnouncement

02/03/2022 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20220302:nRSB2897Da&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 2897D  Eden Research plc  02 March 2022

 

2(nd) March 2022

 

Eden Research

("Eden" or "the Company")

 

Trading Update

 

 

Eden Research plc (AIM: EDEN), the AIM-quoted company focused on sustainable
biopesticides and plastic-free formulation technology for use in global crop
protection, animal health and consumer products industries, provides the
following unaudited trading update for the year ended 31 December 2021.

 

Highlights

 

·      Sales of Cedroz and Mevalone are expected to have increased
overall by approximately 4% in volume and by 6% in value to €1.3m (2020:
€1.2m)

 

·      Product sales are expected to have remained flat in GBP terms at
approximately £1.1m (2020: £1.1m), due to adverse foreign currency exchange
rates

 

·      Revenue for the year is expected to be approximately £1.4m
(2020: £1.4m) with a loss before tax and statutory operating loss of
approximately £3.4m (2020: £2.2m)

 

·      Adjusted EBITDA (excluding Share Based Payments) is expected to
be approximately £1.9m (loss) (2020: £1.5m loss)

 

·      Cash position at the year-end was £3.9m, in-line with management
expectations (2020: £7.3m)

 

·      Development of Eden's seed treatment and insecticide products
continues on track with good progress made in 2021 and the Corteva partnership
has moved into the next stage of development triggering a milestone payment to
Eden

 

·      Significant expansion of the Company's addressable market was
achieved as the labels for both Mevalone and Cedroz were expanded with the
addition of new countries, disease and crop targets

 

 

Corteva

 

In May 2021, Eden signed an exclusive Commercialisation, Supply and
Distribution Agreement with Corteva Agriscience ("Corteva"), the fourth
largest agriculture input company in the world.  The agreement covers Eden's
first seed treatment product which uses Eden's proprietary, plastic-free
SustaineÒ encapsulation technology.

 

During the last year, the two companies have worked closely together to
undertake field trials and other development work and have recently agreed to
move into the next phase of the agreement. The decision by Corteva to move
into the next phase of development under the Agreement is clearly positive and
has resulted in a milestone payment being due to Eden. Further development
work, including regulatory field trials, is now underway.

 

It is still currently expected that launch of the product in the European
Union will occur in time for the 2024 growing season, although both companies
acknowledge that this is an estimate and is open to revision, dependent on
development and product registration.

 

The seed treatment market is globally worth approximately US$6.5
billion annually with an estimated annual growth rate of between 10 and 12
percent.  Eden estimates product sales arising from the successful
development and registration of this seed treatment product may reach €20m
per year in the short term following launch with significant opportunities for
growth in excess of this figure.

 

 

Product sales and development

 

Product sales in 2021 continued to be affected by the global pandemic and its
impact on the travel and leisure industries and adverse weather conditions
which resulted in wine grape production and, therefore, the use of associated
crop protection products, being significantly reduced.

 

In addition, regulatory processes around the world continued to be impacted
with regulatory agencies adjusting to new work practices and still catching up
with workload which had increased during 2020.  As a result, a number of
product authorisations which had been expected, and which should have resulted
in product sales in 2021, were delayed.

 

However, during the year, authorisation was received for the sale of Eden's
bio-fungicide in Spain for use on a range of new crops including strawberry,
cucumber, tomato, lettuce, herbs, and a range of berries.  Additionally, the
approval in Spain expanded to include important disease targets such as
Sclerotinia, Monilinia, Alternaria, and Phytophthora. Eden and its partners
are working to expand the label for Mevalone® in a number of additional
countries.

 

In addition, Eden's commercial collaborator, Eastman Chemical Company,
received authorisation for the sale of Cedroz™ in Italy.

 

Finally, at the end of the year, French regulatory authority ANSES granted
full authorisation of Eden's bio-fungicide for use on pome fruits (such as
apples and pears) to prevent post-harvest storage diseases.

 

The positive impact of these authorisations on product sales is expected to be
realised from 2022.

 

Development work continued apace in 2021, including on Eden's insecticide and
seed treatment products, as well as third party active ingredients which use
Eden's proprietary Sustaine® technology.

 

 

U.S.

 

Eden currently still awaits approval of its active ingredients, as well as
Cedroz and Mevalone, in the U.S. by the Environmental Protection Agency. The
Company has a good understanding of the process that remains and expects to
update shareholders with further news on this in the coming months. The
approvals are expected to significantly increase the addressable markets for
Eden's products.

 

In October 2021, Eden announced that its shares will be traded on
the U.S. OTC market which provides U.S. investors with the ability to trade
in the Company's ordinary shares in U.S. dollars and during U.S. market
hours.

 

In the first half of 2022, Eden expects to focus some of its efforts on
increasing visibility to these US investors, tied in with the anticipated U.S.
EPA approvals.

 

The U.S. has one of the largest food markets in the world, and its ongoing
growth presents a significant opportunity for biopesticide market
participants. As the only AIM-quoted company focused on biopesticides, we
believe that Eden offers a unique proposition for U.S.-based investors seeking
to participate in the rapid growth and promising future of sustainable
agriculture.

 

 

Sean Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Eden Research plc, commented:

 

"Given the particularly difficult backdrop created by the global pandemic and
adverse growing conditions in many of our operating territories, I am pleased
to report good commercial, regulatory and development progress. Product sales
volumes have increased and this trend is set to accelerate in 2022, based upon
our expanded list of authorisations, anticipated authorisations and a return
to market conditions that are more in-line with the pre-pandemic environment.
We continue to carefully manage our costs and cash position, with sufficient
funding in place for the foreseeable future.

 

Good progress is being made with Corteva and with every few months that pass,
we become increasingly confident in that project, the outcome of which could
be meaningful sales initially in the EU alone. EPA approval in the U.S. should
also provide further, significant product sales opportunities which we are
well prepared to fulfil.

 

We look forward to an exciting year ahead and would like to thank shareholders
for their continued support."

 

 

 

 

For further information contact:

 

 Eden Research plc                                     www.edenresearch.com (http://www.edenresearch.com/)
 Sean Smith                                            01285 359 555

Alex Abrey

 Cenkos Securities plc (Nominated advisor and broker)
 Giles Balleny / Max Gould (corporate finance)         020 7397 8900

Michael Johnson (sales)

 Hawthorn Advisors (Financial PR)
 Victoria Ainsworth                                    eden@hawthornadvisors.com (mailto:eden@hawthornadvisors.com)

Stephen Atkinson

 

 

 

 

Notes to Editors:

 

Eden Research is the only UK-listed company focused on biopesticides for
sustainable agriculture. It develops and supplies innovative biopesticide
products and natural microencapsulation technologies to the global crop
protection, animal health and consumer products industries.

 

Eden's products are formulated with terpene active ingredients, based on
natural plant defence metabolites. To date, they have been primarily used on
high-value fruits and vegetables, improving crop yields and marketability,
with equal or better performance when compared with conventional pesticides.
Eden has two products currently on the market:

 

Mevalone® is a foliar biofungicide which initially targets a key disease
affecting grapes and other high-value fruit and vegetable crops.  It is
approved for sale in a number of key countries whilst Eden and its partners
pursue regulatory clearance in new territories thereby growing Eden's
addressable market globally.

 

Cedroz™( )is a bionematicide that targets free living nematodes which are
parasitic worms that affect a wide range of high-value fruit and vegetable
crops globally.  Cedroz is registered for sale on two continents and Eden's
commercial collaborator, Eastman Chemical, is pursuing registration and
commercialisation of this important new product in numerous countries
globally.

 

Eden's Sustaine®( )encapsulation technology is used to harness the biocidal
efficacy of naturally occurring chemicals produced by plants (terpenes) and
can also be used with both natural and synthetic compounds to enhance their
performance and ease-of-use. Sustaine microcapsules are naturally-derived,
plastic-free, biodegradable micro-spheres derived from yeast. It is one of the
only viable, proven and immediately registerable solutions to the
microplastics problem in formulations requiring encapsulation.

 

Eden was admitted to trading on AIM on 11 May 2012 and trades under the
symbol EDEN. It was awarded the London Stock Exchange Green Economy
Mark in January 2021, which recognises London-listed companies that derive
over 50% of their total annual revenue from products and services that
contribute to the global green economy. Eden derives 100% of its total annual
revenues from sustainable products and services.

 

For more information about Eden, please visit:  www.edenresearch.com
(http://www.edenresearch.com/)  .

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  TSTBKDBPCBKDONK