Eden Research eyeing 34 per cent increase in revenue for 2024

Oxfordshire-based biopesticide developer Eden Research told investors it expected revenue for the full year 2024 to increase by 34 per cent to around £4.3 million compared to 2023 and its product sales to lift 42 per cent to £3.7 million.

The firm said it was clearly starting to see the benefit of its investments over the past five years, including in product portfolio expansions, internal capacity, and addressable market growth for its first two products - mevalone and cedroz.

In the trading update, the company also said it expected revenue for FY2025 to increase by 16 per cent to around £5 million when compared with 2024 expected revenue, with some potentially significant approvals and other events, which could increase this figure.

These include the EU-wide approval of Ecovelex - the seed treatment product to tackle crop destruction by birds, the approval of Esseva (Mevalone) in France for downy mildew, and the completion of commercial arrangements for Eden's insecticide product.

CEO Sean Smith said in the statement that it was good to note that 2024 was expected to result in another year of "sizeable growth for Eden".

"While we are confident in our regulatory strategy and satisfied with the progress we have made to date, the regulatory hurdles in the agrochemicals market are ever increasing, even for sustainable products like Eden's," he added.

"These hurdles result in lengthening of our time-to-market, but we must remember that the industry, as a whole, faces the same challenges, and Eden is well-equipped to benefit substantially in the coming years from the changing landscape.

"This notwithstanding, the increasing number of products in our portfolio are competitive and show good efficacy, and with numerous approvals having already been granted, and with more still to come, I believe Eden is well positioned to capitalise on this evolving and dynamic market."

Smith also noted that Mevalone and Cedroz were already well entrenched in growers' practices and Ecovelex should, in the relatively short term, become a market leader.

The opportunity for the insecticide product "could well surpass anything else we have done to date," he added.

Based at Milton Park, Eden Research develops and supplies innovative biopesticide products and natural microencapsulation technologies and currently has three products on the market.

Its products are formulated with terpene active ingredients, based on natural plant defence metabolites and to date, 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.