Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST plc

All information is at 28 February 2009 and unaudited.

Performance at month end is calculated on a capital only basis

                              One      Three        One    Three      Five      
                            Month     Months       Year    Years     Years     
                                                                              
Net asset value             -3.7%      -3.3%     -45.6%   -38.2%     -5.5%     
Share price                 -2.2%       9.3%     -47.9%   -43.3%     -3.3%     
HGSC ex Inv Trust + AIM*    -1.7%      -1.1%     -48.3%   -51.5%    -38.6%  

Sources: BlackRock and Datastream

*With effect from 1 September 2007 the Hoare Govett Smaller Companies plus AIM
(ex Investment Companies) Index replaced the FTSE SmallCap Index (ex Investment
Companies) as the Company's benchmark. For three year and five year periods the
above index has been blended to reflect this.

At month end                                                                  
                                                                              
Net asset value Capital only (debt at par value):           221.80p           
Net asset value Capital only (debt at fair value):          216.30p           
Net asset value incl Income (debt at par value):            227.06p**         
Net asset value incl Income (debt at fair value):           221.56p**         
Share price:                                                177.00p           
Discount to Capital only NAV (debt at par value):           -20.20%           
Discount to Capital only NAV (debt at fair value):          -18.17%           
Net yield:                                                    2.80%             
Total assets:                                               £124.9m^          
Gearing incl. income:                                         14.0%             
Ordinary shares in issue:                                48,494,792^^      

**includes net revenue of 5.26p.
^includes current year revenue.
^^excludes 1,498,731 shares held in treasury.

Ten Largest Sector                                                             
Weightings                                                    % of Total Assets
                                                                               
Support Services                                                           14.6
Software & Computer Services                                               11.3
Financial Services                                                         11.0
Aerospace & Defence                                                         8.4
Industrial Engineering                                                      6.0
Oil & Gas Producers                                                         5.9
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology                                             4.8
Health Care Equipment & Services                                            4.8
Nonlife Insurance                                                           4.0
Industrial Metals & Mining                                                  3.6
                                                                           ----
Total                                                                      74.4
                                                                           ====

Ten Largest Equity Investments (in alphabetical order)                         
                                                                               
Company                                                                        
                                                                               
Brewin Dolphin                                                                 
Chemring Group                                                                 
Connaught                                                                      
Dechra Pharmaceuticals                                                         
Fidessa Group                                                                  
London Capital Group Holding                                                   
Mouchel Parkman                                                                
Rathbone Brothers                                                              
Victrex                                                                        
Ultra Electronics Holdings                                                     
 
Commenting on the markets, Mike Prentis, representing the Investment Manager
noted:

February was a tough month with the NAV (on a capital only basis) falling by
3.7%, whilst the benchmark fell by 1.7%. The FTSE 100 Index fell by 7.7% during
the month.

The main contributors to relative underperformance during the month were
holdings in Mouchel Group, Aveva Group and Endace. Mouchel put out a reasonably
positive trading statement but the market is concerned by its lack of success
at winning large new contracts in recent months. Aveva shares have suffered on
fears that it will in due course see a slowdown in initial licence fees as
global customers delay or cancel new infrastructure projects and vessels.
Endace announced that some of its financial services customers had deferred
purchases of their probes; growth potential still looks good medium term, but
the shares fell sharply.

On the positive side, the holdings contributing most to performance were
Fidessa and Victrex. Fidessa produced excellent full year results showing
earnings up 35%, 77% of revenues now of a recurring nature and good cash
generation. Victrex shares recovered some of the losses of previous months as
the market hopes the worst of destocking is now behind it.

Sector allocation during the month was negative. The two main constituent parts
of this were our underweight position in general retailers, our second largest
underweight sector position, and our overweight position in aerospace and
defence, our largest sector overweight position. There has been a noticeable
outperformance of certain early stage cyclical sectors and companies, as
investors look to identify companies where earnings expectations have already
been heavily cut and where downside may be more limited. Undoubtedly, trading
news from many of these companies is weak and expected to weaken further, but
the argument is that much of this is already factored into earnings forecasts
so share prices should be close to cyclical lows.

Given the trend mentioned above, new holdings in the month included a selection
of consumer related stocks: Asos, Halfords, Persimmon and William Hill. Whilst
we remain cautious on the outlook for UK consumer stocks, some companies
continue to trade very well; Asos is a good example and benefits from all of
its sales being over the internet. Persimmon and William Hill are examples of
larger companies which have been derated and which should be good recovery
stocks in due course. Both are fairly highly geared, but share issues by them
are likely to be well supported. We sold holdings in ROC Oil and Nighthawk
Energy and trimmed various other holdings.

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).

26 March 2009


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