Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST plc

All information is at 31 March 2010 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             10.3%    12.5%      84.1%     -10.7%     49.9%     
Share price                 11.1%    15.2%      72.8%     -17.4%     37.9%     
HGSC ex Inv Trust + AIM*     6.8%     8.4%      66.3%     -25.6%      1.1%    

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):           413.98p           
Net asset value Capital only (debt at fair value):          409.72p           
Net asset value incl. Income (debt at par value):           421.57p**         
Net asset value incl. Income (debt at fair value):          417.31p**         
Share price:                                                326.50p           
Discount to Capital only NAV (debt at par value):           21.1%             
Discount to Capital only NAV (debt at fair value):          20.3%             
Net yield:                                                  1.6%              
Total assets:                                               £224.0m^          
Gearing incl. Income:                                       10.8%             
Ordinary shares in issue:                                   47,879,792^^      

**includes net revenue of 7.59p.
^includes current year revenue.
^^excludes 2,113,731 shares held in treasury.

 

Ten Largest Sector                                                         
Weightings                                                % of Total Assets
                                                                           
Industrial Metals & Mining                                             12.3
Software & Computer Services                                           10.0
Financial Services                                                      9.7
Oil & Gas Producers                                                     9.1
Support Services                                                        6.6
Industrial Engineering                                                  6.4
Electronic & Electrical Equipment                                       6.2
Technology Hardware & Equipment                                         5.6
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology                                         4.8
General Retailers                                                       3.8
                                                                       ----
Total                                                                  74.5
                                                                       ====

Ten Largest Equity Investments (in alphabetical order)                         
                                                                               
Company                                                                        
                                                                               
Abcam Group                                                                    
Aveva Group                                                                    
Brewin Dolphin Holdings                                                        
Domino Printing Sciences                                                       
Eastern Platinum                                                               
Fidessa group                                                                  
Rotork                                                                         
Rensburg Sheppards                                                             
Spirax-Sarco Engineering                                                       
Western Coal                                                                   

Commenting on the markets, Mike Prentis, representing the Investment Manager
noted:

March was a very strong month in absolute and relative terms, with the NAV
(capital only) up 10.3%, well ahead of the benchmark which was up 6.8%. The
FTSE 100 Index was up 6.1%.

With such strong absolute performance during the month our relative performance
was helped by being 10.8% geared; this contributed over 1% to relative
performance. From a stock point of view, relative performance was helped by
significant contributions from Rensburg Sheppards, Western Coal and Gulfsands
Petroleum. Rensburg Sheppards announced an all share offer from 47% shareholder
Investec; this was pitched at a premium of approaching 50%. Gulfsands received
a bid approach from an Indian oil company, which it rebuffed. We regard
Gulfsands management and assets highly and believe any bid would have to be
pitched at a substantial premium to have much chance of success. Western Coal
benefited from substantially higher coal prices. It produces coking and thermal
coal mainly in North America. Production volumes are increasing, costs per
tonne are falling, and margins are widening. The stock still looks good value
after the recent rise.

The main disappointment from a stock point of view was Intec Telecom Systems,
which warned that a number of software licences being negotiated had slipped.
These mainly seem to be in the EMEA region, where we have seen various software
companies commenting about delays to decision making. Whilst there is evidence
of more competition, Intec seems to be maintaining market share. We met with
management and were comforted by their comments; the shares look very cheap for
a world leading software company.

Sector allocation during the month was positive, helped by our overweight
sector weighting in the miners. However, we did suffer from being heavily
underweight in the travel and leisure sector which had a surprisingly strong
month.

We sold our holding in Care UK, which had a bid from private equity; it is
becoming clearer that mergers and acquisitions activity is picking up. We
bought several new holdings, putting 0.5% into each of two retailers:
Supergroup, an IPO which was well received and is best known for its Superdry
brand, and Alexon, a recovery situation where we were impressed by new
management and their strategy, and attracted by the low valuation. We also took
slightly smaller holdings in Yule Catto and Impax Asset Management. Yule Catto,
the polymers company, derives 44% of its revenues from the Asia Pacific region
and other high growth developing markets, has a relatively new and impressive
CEO, and is lowly valued. Impax Asset Management manages equities invested in
environmental funds. Its fund performance has been good and funds under
management continue to grow.

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).

22 April 2010