Interim Management Statement

MERRILL LYNCH BRITISH SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST PLC

Interim Management Statement-3 months to 30 November 2007

To the members of Merrill Lynch British Smaller Companies Trust plc

This interim management statement has been produced solely to provide
additional information to shareholders as a body to meet the relevant
requirements of the UK Listing Authority's Disclosure & Transparency Rules. It
should not be relied on by any other party for any other reason.

This interim management statement relates to the period from 1 September 2007
to 30 November 2007, and contains information that covers this period, and up
to the date of publication of this interim management statement. Please note
more recent performance information, in particular the December 2007 month end
announcement, is available on the Manager's website-www.blackrock.co.uk/its .

The Company invests mainly in smaller UK quoted companies, and seeks to achieve
long term capital growth for shareholders. The Company is managed by Mike
Prentis of BlackRock Merrill Lynch Investment Managers.

Stock Performance

Cumulative Performance(%):

                                  One      Three        One     Three      Five
                                                                               
                                Month     Months       Year     Years     Years
                                                                               
Net Asset Value                -12.9%      -8.6%       3.8%     73.9%    170.0%
                                                                               
Share Price                    -16.4%     -14.0%      -3.7%     64.7%    177.6%
                                                                               
HGSC ex Investment Trusts       -9.4%      -6.8%      -3.1%     28.4%     79.2%
& AIM                                                                          
                                                                               
FTSE SmallCap ex IC's          -13.3%     -14.9%     -11.6%     17.3%     63.6%
                                                                               
Blended Benchmark               -9.4%      -6.8%      -9.5%     18.2%     64.4%

All performance figures are in £ on a capital only basis.

Ten Largest Equity Holdings(in alphabetical order)at 30 November 2007

Aveva Group

Brewin Dolphin

BSS Group

Dechra Pharmaceuticals

Domino Printing

ITE Group

Rathbone Brothers

Spirax-Sarco

Victrex

WSP Group

Financial position and performance as at 30 November 2007

                                                   £m
                                                     
Gross Assets                                    219.8
                                                     
Short term borrowings                             3.4
                                                     
7.75% Debenture 2022                             16.5
                                                     
Net asset value (at par)                     417.80p*
                                                     
Net asset value (at fair value)              412.46p*
                                                     
Share Price                                   329.00p
                                                     
Ordinary Shares in Issue                 48,649,708**
                                                     
Actual Gearing                                   8.1%
                                                     
Discount to NAV                                 21.2%
                                                     
Average Discount over the Period                17.2%
                                                     
* Calculated on a capital only basis                 
                                                     
** Excluding 1,343,815 shares held                   
in treasury                                          

Material Events

The Company changed its benchmark from the FTSE SmallCap Index (ex Investment
Companies) to the Hoare Govett Smaller Companies plus AIM (ex Investment
Companies) Index from 1 September 2007.

Material Transactions

There were two buy backs during the period, on 22 November and 30 November.
These resulted in 825,000 shares being bought back. Three further buy backs
totalling 140,000 shares have occurred since the period end. All shares have
been placed in treasury.

The Board is not aware of any significant events or transactions, except as
disclosed herein, occurring between 30 November 2007 and the date of
publication of this interim management statement which would have a material
impact on the financial position of the Company. Latest information is
available by typing, www.blackrock.co.uk/its on the internet, "BLRKINDEX" on
Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV terminal).

Contact details:

Caroline Driscoll
Secretary
Tel: [phone]
16 January 2008