Finance
Biotalys Reports Full-Year 2024 Financial Results and Business Highlights
Ghent, BELGIUM, March 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Press release – regulated information
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Continued to work closely with European and U.S. regulators on the regulatory review of its first candidate biofungicide EVOCA™*, earning recommendation for EU approval by the Dutch CTGB in January 2025 on the back of the approval of large-scale demonstration trials in the Netherlands
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Progressed product pipeline with initial field trials for BioFun-6 showing strong results and highlighting the increased potency of the tested candidate
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Closed €15 million private placement to continue strategic growth initiatives, with year-end cash and cash equivalents amounting to €22.6 million providing a financial runway into May 2026
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Management to host a conference call and live webcast at 15:00 CET / 14:00 GMT / 09:00 AM ET today, details below
Biotalys (Euronext – BTLS), an Agricultural Technology (AgTech) company developing protein-based biocontrols for sustainable crop protection, today announced key business achievements and consolidated financial results for 2024, prepared in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the European Union, and an outlook for 2025. The annual report, including the full financial report, will be published on the company’s website on 21 March 2025.
Kevin Helash, Chief Executive Officer of Biotalys, stated: “Biotalys continued to lead the charge toward creating effective and sustainable crop protection products in 2024. While we worked closely with regulators to progress the potential approval for innovative protein-based biocontrols like EVOCA, we also strengthened our platform, pipeline, partnerships, and team. Additionally, we optimized capital resources last year, achieving a significant reduction in operating expenses while strengthening our balance sheet through a successful private placement. Looking ahead, we plan to further advance our product portfolio and develop novel modes of action, as well as expand options to scale and produce our biobased solutions.”
Highlights
In 2024, Biotalys continued to cement its role as a primary innovator in the biocontrol space by advancing its technology platform and product development pipeline.
Product Pipeline:
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Biotalys worked closely with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) in the United States and the Dutch CTGB (College voor de Toelating van Gewasbeschermingsmiddelen en Biociden) in Europe on EVOCA’s regulatory review throughout the year.
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While the regulatory landscape in the United States is evolving, Biotalys has recently received a request for additional information from the EPA. The company expects to provide the EPA with the requested data in Q2, positioning EVOCA for potential registration thereafter.
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In Europe, the CTGB recently recommended the approval of EVOCA’s active ingredient throughout the European Union after previously granting approval to test EVOCA in large-scale demonstration trials in the Netherlands and offer the harvest for sale for human consumption. A registration in Europe would allow first access to this important market for Botrytis and powdery mildew fungicides estimated to be around USD 1 billion at the grower level.
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In addition, the company obtained patents for EVOCA from both the European Patent Office (EPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2024, and from the Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) in February 2025. In Brazil, the patent examination process benefited from the Patentes Verdes (“Green Technology”) initiative to accelerate the examination of patent applications relating to technologies having a positive impact on the environment.
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In March last year, Biotalys announced a partnership with Novonesis to advance EVOCA NG to the final stage of development. Pending success in this final development stage, the agreement secured Novonesis as the global manufacturing partner for EVOCA NG while granting it certain distribution rights. By year-end, substantial progress had been achieved in strain engineering for EVOCA NG, paving the way for the next phase of development
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Biotalys also began field trials in both Europe and the United States for BioFun-6, a biofungicide candidate targeting Botrytis, powdery mildew and potentially other fungal diseases in high-value fruits and vegetables. Results published in March 2025, showed that the BioFun-6 AGROBODY biocontrol can achieve the same level of performance as EVOCA at significantly lower dosage rates, highlighting the increased potency of the new candidate.
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In October, Biotalys introduced a new biofungicide program, BioFun-8, focusing on combatting Alternaria, a top leaf spot fungus, in fruits, vegetables and potato crops, and representing a global market opportunity of approximately USD 1.1 billion at grower level.
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Early in the year, Biotalys also expanded its relationships with top academics, adding collaborations with leading plant science researchers for BioFun-4, targeting Phytophthora infestans, and for BioFun-7, a project in collaboration with the Gates Foundation and targeting leafspot disease. With these collaborations the company continues to build on the strong scientific foundation of its R&D programs and technology, creating synergies between the expertise and excellent research in academia and industry.
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Biotalys also continued to advance its first bioinsecticide, BioIns-2, in collaboration with Syngenta Crop Protection.
Banks have had a stellar first quarter. The major U.S. banks raked in nearly $50 billion in profits in the first three months of the year, The Guardian reported.
That was largely due to Wall Street bank traders, who profited from a volatile stock exchange, Reuters showed.
But even without the extra bump from stock trading, banks are doing well when it comes to interest, the same Reuters article found. And some banks could stand to benefit even more from this one potential rule change.
Morgan Stanley thinks it could have a major impact on Citi in particular.
Upcoming changes for banks
To understand why Morgan Stanley thinks things are going to change at Citi, you need to understand some recent bank rule changes.
Banks make money by lending out money, which usually comes from depositors. But people need access to their money and the right to withdraw whenever they want.
So, banks keep a percentage of all money deposited to make sure they can cover what the average person needs.
But what happens if there is a major demand for withdrawals, as we saw during the financial crisis of 2008?
That’s where capital requirements come in. After the financial crisis, major banks like Citi were required by law to hold a higher percentage of money in order to avoid major bank failures.
For years, banks had to put aside billions of dollars. Money that couldn’t be lent out or even returned to shareholders.
Now, that’s all about to change.
Capital change requirements for major banks
Banks that are considered globally systemically important banking organizations (G-SIBs) have a higher capital buffer than community banks as they usually engage in banking activity that is far more complicated than your average market loan.
The list depends on the size of the bank and its underlying activity, according to the Federal Reserve.
Current global systemically important banks
A proposal from U.S. federal banking regulators could drastically reduce the amount that these large banks have to hold in reserve.
Changes would result in the largest U.S. banks holding an average 4.8% less. While that might seem like a small percentage number, for banks of this size, it equates to billions of dollars, according to a Federal Reserve memo.
The proposed changes were a long time coming, Robert Sarama, a financial services leader at PwC, told TheStreet.
“It’s a bit of a recognition that perhaps the pendulum swung a little too far in the higher capital requirement following the financial crisis, making it harder for banks to participate in some markets,” he said.
Natasha Luscri and Luke Miller consider themselves among the lucky ones. The couple recently bought their first home in the northwest suburbs of Melbourne.
It wasn’t something they necessarily expected to be able to do, but some good fortune with an investment in silver bullion and making use of government schemes meant “the stars aligned” to get into the market. Luke used the federal government’s super saver scheme to help build a deposit, and the couple then jumped on the 5 per cent deposit scheme, which they say made all the difference.
“We only started looking because of the government deposit scheme. Basically, we didn’t really think it was possible that we could buy something,” Natasha told Yahoo Finance.
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Last month they settled on their two bedroom unit, which the pair were able to purchase in an off-market sale – something that is becoming increasingly common in the market at the moment.
Rather perfectly, they got it for about $20-30,000 below market rate, Natasha estimated, which meant they were under the $600,000 limit to avoid paying stamp duty under Victoria’s suite of support measures for first home buyers.
“They wanted to sell it quickly. They had no other offers. So we got it for less than what it would have gone for if it had been on market,” Natasha said.
“We didn’t have a lot of cash sitting in an account … I think we just got lucky and made some smart investment decisions which helped.”
It’s a far cry from when the couple couldn’t find a home due to the rental crisis when they were previously living in Adelaide and had to turn to sub-standard options.
“We’ve managed to go from living in a caravan because we were living in Adelaide and we couldn’t find a rental with our dogs … So we’ve gone from living in a caravan, being kind of tertiary homeless essentially because we couldn’t get a rental, to now having been able to purchase our first home,” Natasha explained.
Rate rises beginning to bite for new homeowners
Natasha, 34, and Luke, 45, are among more than 300,000 Australians who have used the 5 per cent deposit scheme to get into the housing market with a much smaller than usual deposit, according to data from Housing Australia at the end of March. However that’s dating back to 2020 when the program first launched, before it was rebranded and significantly expanded in October last year to scrap income or placement caps, along with allowing for higher property price caps.
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