Small caps round-up: BioSeek, 21st Century, CareCapital...

BioSeek, a subsidiary of drugs developer Asterand, has signed a new three-year collaboration agreement with Merck Serono, a division of German pharmaceuticals giant firm Merck. The new agreement is for a research plan which extends and expands the companies' previous three-year agreement from 2009. The studies carried out by BioSeek for Merck Serono over the past three years have demonstrated that the BioMAP platform can be used to reliably advance promising molecules through pre-clinical evaluation, the company claimed.

21st Century, a supplier and installation service provider of public transport closed-circuit television, reported a leap in sales from £10.8m to £14m for 2011. Profit after tax doubled from £0.6m to £1.2m, while earnings per share rose from 0.61p to 1.31p. Year end cash was up to £2.8m from £1.1m at the start of the year. The firm said if the company continues to progress it will consider proposing a dividend within the next 12 months.

CareCapital, a property investment firm, has announced a restructing of the company to reflect its strategy to reposition the group as an investor in, and provider of, advanced cancer treatments. Current investments in medical centre development projects will be transferred to the group's wholly owned subsidiary, The Healthcare Property Company, while the firm itself will change its name to Advanced Oncotherapy. The will also be a change in management responsibilities, including the promotion of Lord Evans of Watford to non-executive Chairman.

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Stockbroking firm Numis Securities is taking over the RBS Hoare Govett Smaller Companies Index. The index will be renamed "The Numis Smaller Companies Index" with immediate effect. Although no initial consideration is being paid, Numis will be paying ongoing fees and may make royalty-based payments to the compilers of the index. The index covers over 800 companies which make up the bottom 10% of the UK market by value.

Financial website operator ADVFN has announced an agreement with TheStreet to distribute TheStreet's content through its network of financial websites. ADVFN is expanding its global reach and currently has localised sites in numerous countries including the UK, US, France and Germany.

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