ROSARIO, ARGENTINA — Bioceres Crop Solutions, maker of genetically modified HB4 wheat and other crop production technologies, announced on May 10 total revenues of $93.6 million in its recently completed fiscal third quarter, surpassing analysts’ expectations.

The sales total represented an increase of 33% over the Argentina-based company’s third-quarter performance last year and was 5% higher than analysts predicted for this quarter. The company said topline growth was primarily driven by revenues in the Crop Nutrition segment, resulting from the initial proceeds generated by a new strategic partnership with Syngenta.

The global commercial and R&D collaboration between Bioceres and Syngenta, announced last September, made Syngenta Seedcare the exclusive global commercialization distributor for Bioceres’ biological seed treatment solutions, except in Argentina where they already had an existing agreement. Under the long-term R&D collaboration, the companies will jointly undertake the development of new products while accelerating the registration of products already in the pipeline.

Adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter of $35.8 million mainly benefited by proceeds from the Syngenta agreement that were recognized in the quarter, Bioceres said. On a last-twelve-months basis, adjusted EBITDA was $85.3 million.

“We are delighted to resume our growth trajectory with solid numbers reported in this quarter, despite the extended drought in Argentina, which continued to affect our sales in this important market,” said Federico Trucco, Bioceres´ chief executive officer. “Our outstanding performance this quarter results from the combination of strategic actions we have taken over the last year to diversify the product and geographic exposure of our business. For instance, this quarter saw the initial benefits of the strategic partnership with Syngenta, which accelerates and broadens the international growth of our inoculant business.”

Trucco said Bioceres was making “great strides” in its push to commercialize its drought-resistant HB4 wheat in several countries around the world.

“Brazil’s recent approval for HB4 Wheat commercialization and cultivation consolidated our collaboration with local institutions and seed developers such as Embrapa and OR Sementes,” he said. “Additionally, the approval of HB4 grain importation by Brazil (adding to the prior approval for flour importation) allows us to diversify our go-to-market strategy in Argentina, where we are expanding original seed sales to a group of 45 seed multipliers, who can now build their own inventories for future, direct-to-farmer, certified seed sales. At the same time, we have enabled third parties such as Buck Semillas, to develop HB4 varieties with their own genetics, allowing us to more quickly address the needs of farmers in certain regions.”

Brazil is the second country — along with Argentina — where regulatory agencies have cleared HB4 Wheat for cultivation. Brazil plants 2 to 3 million hectares of wheat annually and, together, both countries account for 90% of South America’s wheat acreage. Bioceres also is making regulatory progress in Australia and the United States.

Enrique Lopez Lecube, Bioceres´ chief financial officer, said the strong third-quarter results reflect the value of the company’s strategic actions to diversify revenues, and to profit from its extensive portfolio of technologies in multiple ways.

“Results from the agreement with Syngenta were timely in helping us navigate our seasonally weakest quarter in a context of halted demand for some of our products due to unfavorable weather, particularly in Argentina,” he said. “Both dynamics ─ weather patterns affecting seasonality and alternative revenue sources ─ are a reminder that our underlying performance is better assessed when looking at annual results.