Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST plc

All information is at 31 March 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             1.4%     -3.4%      -43.5%    -39.5%     -1.7%     
Share price                 6.8%      4.1%      -40.4%    -41.1%      0.5%      
HGSC ex Inv Trust + AIM*    4.8%      2.5%      -43.7%    -49.7%    -33.9%  

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):           224.81p           
Net asset value Capital only (debt at fair value):          219.31p           
Net asset value incl Income (debt at par value):            230.73p**         
Net asset value incl Income (debt at fair value):           225.24p**         
Share price:                                                189.00p           
Discount to Capital only NAV (debt at par value):           -15.93%           
Discount to Capital only NAV (debt at fair value):          -13.82%           
Net yield:                                                    2.62%             
Total assets:                                               £126.7m^          
Gearing:                                                      13.2%             
Ordinary shares in issue:                               48,494,792^^      

**includes net revenue of 5.92p.
^includes current year revenue.
^^excludes 1,498,731 shares held in treasury.

Ten Largest Sector                                                             
Weightings                                                    % of Total Assets
                                                                               
Support Services                                                           12.3
Software & Computer Services                                               11.1
Financial Services                                                         11.0
Aerospace & Defence                                                         7.0
Oil & Gas Producers                                                         6.6
Industrial Engineering                                                      6.2
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology                                             4.8
Health Care Equipment & Services                                            3.9
Industrial Metals & Mining                                                  3.8
Nonlife Insurance                                                           3.7
                                                                           ----
Total                                                                      70.4
                                                                           ====

 

Ten Largest Equity Investments (in alphabetical order)                         
                                                                               
Company                                                                        
                                                                               
Aveva Group                                                                    
Brewin Dolphin Holdings                                                        
Chemring Group                                                                 
Dechra Pharmaceuticals                                                         
Emerald Energy                                                                 
Fidessa Group                                                                  
Mouchel                                                                        
Rathbone Brothers                                                              
Rotork                                                                         
Ultra Electronics Holdings                                                     

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

March was a difficult month with early cyclical recovery stocks outperforming
strongly; these are not the type of stock we typically hold, preferring to
invest in high quality growth stocks. The NAV rose by 1.4% during the month,
well behind the benchmark which rose by 4.8%. The FTSE 100 Index rose by 2.5%
during the month.

Of our underperformance in March, 1.7% was due to sector allocation. Our
significant overweight position in defence stocks cost 0.7% in relative
performance, as the market chose to sell this sector which has performed well
over the last year. Our smaller overweight position in healthcare stocks cost
0.3% and our underweight position in oil & gas producers cost 0.2%.

Stock selection accounted for the majority of underperformance. Core holdings
such as Alternative Networks, Chemring, Mouchel and Connaught all saw their
share prices perform poorly. All continue to trade well, although Alternative
Networks is believed to have seen a little weakness, and Mouchel has failed to
win any of the large contracts it has recently tendered for. All have good
revenue visibility or predictability; we remain happy to hold all on
fundamental grounds. One other contributor to underperformance was a lack of
holding in Venture Production, a large benchmark constituent, which looks
likely to be bid for by Centrica.

On the positive side, in relative terms, the best performers were WSP Group and
ITE. WSP delivered strong 2008 results and management were in fighting form;
cash generation was especially good. ITE shares are very lowly rated, but a
recent AGM statement confirmed trading is in line with expectations and revenue
visibility remains very high.

Our portfolio remains defensively positioned and remains underweight UK
consumer stocks. However, we continue to look for attractively valued, early
cycle recovery stocks with dominant market positions. In this context we bought
0.5% of portfolio positions in 3i Group, Cookson and John Wood Group. We sold
holdings in Beazley, where we had some concerns about its investment portfolio,
Hampson, which is quite highly indebted and does not truly dominate its
markets, and Mitie, which continues to trade well but could suffer as corporate
customers revisit budgets.

As we move into April, recovery stocks are continuing to outperform. We suspect
a lot of this is down to shortclosing of crowded trades. Many of the best
performing stocks in our benchmark index only joined it on 1 January 2009 at
the annual rebalancing, having fallen sharply in 2008, and are not typical
smallcaps. We are reviewing these companies to see which, if any, merit a place
in our portfolio.

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).

27 March 2009