Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST plc

All information is at 31 August 2011 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             -12.3%    -12.3%      27.4%      39.7%      51.9%     
Share price                 -11.1%     -9.0%      36.4%      50.9%      57.1%     
HGSC ex Inv Trust + AIM*     -9.6%    -12.1%      10.7%      12.6%      -6.3%     

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 the five year period the above index
has been blended to reflect this.

At month end                                                                  
                                                                              
Net asset value Capital only (debt at par value):           545.72p           
Net asset value Capital only (debt at fair value):          541.50p           
Net asset value incl. Income (debt at par value):           551.79p**         
Net asset value incl. Income (debt at fair value):          547.57p**         
Share price:                                                476.00p           
Discount to cum income NAV (debt at par value):             12.8%             
Discount to cum income NAV (debt at fair value):            12.1%             
Net yield:                                                  1.5%              
Total assets:                                               £285.6m^          
Gearing including income:                                   8.2%              
Ordinary shares in issue:                                   47,879,792^^      

**includes net revenue of 6.07p.
^includes current year revenue.
^^excludes 2,113,731 shares held in treasury.
 
Ten Largest Sector                                                         
Weightings                                                % of Total Assets
                                                                           
Software & Computer Services                                            9.0
Support Services                                                        8.4
Financial Services                                                      8.3
Industrial Metals & Mining                                              8.2
Electronic & Electrical Equipment                                       8.1
Media                                                                   5.7
Travel & Leisure                                                        5.6
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology                                         5.5
Oil & Gas Producers                                                     5.3
Industrial Engineering                                                  5.0
                                                                       ----
Total                                                                  69.1
                                                                       ====

Ten Largest Equity Investments (in alphabetical order)

Company

Alternative Networks
Aveva Group
Bellway
City of London Investment Group
Fidessa group
Hargreaves Services
Immunodiagnostic Systems
Oxford Instruments
Senior
Victrex

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

August was a very tough month for markets and the Company. The NAV on a capital
only basis fell 12.3%, compared to the benchmark fall of 9.6%. The reasons for
the market fall have been well documented; the main problems seem to be
concerns about the level of indebtedness of various EU countries and the US,
and also a lack of economic growth and job creation in these economies.

Whilst we reduced gearing to an extent during the month, the fact that we were
geared impacted relative performance by just under 1%.

Our underperformance at the stock level was not due to any fundamental
deterioration in portfolio performance. Whilst we do have a small holding in
Topps Tiles, which warned like for like sales had fallen 10% in recent weeks
and the shares in which fell by 36% in the month, this had only a 0.1% impact
on relative performance. Most trading news was in fact good, but the market was
focused on identifying stocks where performance might deteriorate and/or where
substantial gains had been made over the last few years. Our biggest relative
losers, none of which contributed more than 0.2% to relative underperformance,
included Oxford Instruments, Mecom, ITE, Hutchison China Meditech, Robert
Walters and Hyder Consulting. Most of these are core holdings, and all derive
their revenues internationally; they fell between 17% and 33% in absolute terms
over the month.

Our most significant positive relative contributor was Avocet Mining, a gold
miner which is increasing both production and reserves; we had a good meeting
with management.

Stock selection overall was poor, accounting for just over 1% of
underperformance. Sector allocation was also negative and this was accounted
for by our overweight positions in electronics and engineering companies,
partly offset by our underweight position in oil and gas producers.

As markets fell sharply in August we stepped up the derisking process. In
particular, we sold a number of higher risk smaller holdings, some in the
resources sector, and other holdings where our conviction was not high enough
for nervous markets.

Our tracking error now stands at about 3.6%, which is lower than usual, our
ungeared portfolio beta has also been reduced from about 1 to about 0.97, and
our gearing has been reduced to a slightly lower level than over the last few
years.

Despite poor sector allocation in August, from a sector point of view we retain
our preference for software, electronics, engineering and healthcare companies
and remain underweight the main UK domestic sectors: retailers, leisure and
food manufacturing. The resources sectors remain a significant and highly
volatile part of our benchmark; we are significantly underweight oil and gas
producers and have moved to a neutral position in mining companies. Our aim in
recent months has been to focus increasingly on our core holdings, especially
where their shares are reasonably liquid. These are, of course, our highest
conviction positions.


16 September 2011

ENDS

Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/brsc on the
internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV
terminal). Neither the contents of the Manager's website nor the contents of
any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Manager's website (or any other
website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.