Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST plc

All information is at 31 January 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             1.9%      4.6%    62.8%     -15.5%      38.6%     
Share price                 5.3%      5.5%    64.9%     -21.4%      33.3%     
HGSC ex Inv Trust + AIM*    1.0%      3.0%    59.6%     -29.7%      -5.1%   

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):              374.88p           
Net asset value Capital only (debt at fair value):             370.64p           
Net asset value incl. Income (debt at par value):              379.97p**         
Net asset value incl. Income (debt at fair value):             375.73p**         
Share price:                                                   298.50p           
Discount to Capital only NAV (debt at par value):                20.4%             
Discount to Capital only NAV (debt at fair value):               19.5%             
Net yield:                                                        1.7%              
Total assets:                                                  £203.6m^          
Gearing incl. Income:                                            11.1%             
Ordinary shares in issue:                                  48,194,792^^      

**includes net revenue of 5.09p.
^includes current year revenue.
^^excludes 1,798,731 shares held in treasury.

Ten Largest Sector                                                             
Weightings                                           % of Total Assets
                                                                               
Software & Computer Services                                      11.0
Financial Services                                                 9.6
Industrial Metals & Mining                                         9.3
Oil & Gas Producers                                                8.6
Industrial Engineering                                             7.0
Support Services                                                   6.3
Technology Hardware & Equipment                                    6.2
Electronic & Electrical Equipment                                  6.0
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology                                    4.4
Media                                                              3.7
                                                                  ----
Total                                                             72.1
                                                                  ====

Ten Largest Equity Investments (in alphabetical order)                         
                                                                               
Company                                                                        
                                                                               
Abcam Group                                                                    
Aveva Group                                                                    
BATM Advanced Communications                                                   
Brewin Dolphin Holdings                                                        
City of London Investment Group                                                
Domino Printing Sciences                                                       
Eastern Platinum                                                               
Fidessa group                                                                  
Rotork                                                                         
Spirax-Sarco Engineering                                                       

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

January was a good month in relative performance terms.

The biggest contribution to outperformance came from our holding in Eastern
Platinum. Its quarterly production for the December quarter was well ahead of
market expectations, and at the higher level of platinum group metal prices it
is making a reasonable profit. Performance was negatively impacted by our
holding in Alterian, a strong performer last year. Alterian reported the delay
of two large UK software contracts which has the impact of reducing profits
materially in the current year. At present it looks as though these potential
contracts have been deferred rather than lost to competitors, although
sometimes deferment is followed by cancellation. Interestingly, Alterian's
order flow in the US has been very strong and well ahead of expectations; this
might say something about the relative attractions of the UK and US economies
in terms of new investment. We believe the company remains well placed medium
term.

Sector allocation was positive; most notably our overweight position in
software stocks, despite Alterian, and our underweight position in consumer
goods, both contributed well to performance.

We sold our holdings in Gem Diamonds and VT Group. Whilst diamond prices are
increasing, we prefer our holding in Petra Diamonds to which we added at a good
price in a placing during the month. VT Group is largely UK Government exposed
and we have been reducing exposure to Government for some months.

We believe we are well placed for 2010, which is likely to be a tough year for
the UK economy. We have a portfolio heavily biased towards good quality
companies with high levels of international revenues. The software, IT hardware
and engineering/electronics sectors are well represented in our portfolio,
whereas we have only modest exposure to UK consumer stocks and stocks supplying
UK Government.

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).

25 February 2010