Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST PLC All information is at30 June 2016 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	-8.0	-8.2		28.7	49.9
Share price*	-11.6	-7.4	-13.4		25.9	52.2
Numis ex Inv Companies + AIM	-6.9	-4.9	-9.0		8.6	17.1
*performance calculations based on a capital only NAV with debt at par, without income reinvested. Share price performance calculations exclude income reinvestment.
Sources:  BlackRock and Datastream
At month end
Net asset value Capital only(debt at par value):				934.82p
Net asset value Capital only(debt at fair value):				925.24p
Net asset value incl. Income(debt at par value)**:				946.73p
Net asset value incl. Income(debt at fair value)**:				937.15p
Share price				804.50p
Discount to Cum Income NAV (debt at par value):				15.0%
Discount to Cum Income NAV (debt at fair value):				14.2%
Net yield^^^:				2.18%
Gross assets^:				£498.2m
Gearing range as a % of net assets:				0-15%
Net gearing including income (debt at par):				6.5%
2016 Ongoing charges ratio^^				0.7%
2016 Ongoing charges ratio (including performance fees):				0.9%
Ordinary shares in issue#:				47,879,792
**includes net revenue of 11.91p ^includes current year revenue ^^ As reported in the Annual Financial Report for the year ended 28 February 2016, the ongoing charges ratio is calculated as a percentage of net assets and using operating expenses, excluding performance fees, finance costs and taxation. ^^^Yield calculations are based on dividends announced in the last 12 months as at the date of release of this announcement, and comprise of the final dividend of 10.50 pence per share, (announced on 25 April 2016, ex-dividend on 19 May 2016) and the interim dividend of 7.00 pence per share (announced on 26 October 2015 and gone ex-dividend on 5 November 2015) #excludes 2,113,731 shares held in treasury.
Sector Weightings	% of portfolio
Industrials	26.7
Consumer Services	20.7
Financials	15.5
Technology	9.8
Consumer Goods	9.0
Health Care	8.9
Basic Materials	7.0
Oil & Gas	2.2
Utilities	0.2
	-----
Total	100.0
	=====
Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company	% of portfolio
4imprint Group	2.5
CVS Group	2.4
Dechra Pharmaceuticals	1.9
Avon Rubber	1.7
Advanced Medical Solutions	1.7
JD Sports	1.7
Fevertree Drinks	1.7
GB Group	1.6
Workspace Group	1.6
Restore	1.6
Commenting on the markets, Mike Prentis, representing the Investment Manager noted:   Stock markets have continued to be volatile and difficult. Until the last minute it looked as though the UK referendum was likely to decide in favour of Remain. The decision to vote to Leave was followed by a violent sell off of stocks most particularly UK consumer cyclicals and real estate stocks. We have been overweight in these areas although less so than earlier in the year. The impact on performance has been significantly negative. The FTSE 100 has substantially outperformed on the back of higher exposure to international earnings. During June the Company’s NAV per share fell by 10.3% on a capital only basis whilst our benchmark index fell by 6.9%; the FTSE 100 Index rose by 4.4%. Stock selection, sector allocation and gearing all negatively impacted on relative performance during the month. Within stock selection our holdings in Topps Tiles, Marshalls, Workspace Group, Grafton, Virgin Money and Lookers all feature amongst our top detractors. Each company is very largely UK exposed and cyclical and sold off on the back of post BREXIT recession fears. Each of these stocks saw share price falls of 20% to 33% during the month, and in aggregate these stocks detracted 1.5% from relative performance. Newsflow from these has been limited during the month but in any case the market is anticipating tougher times ahead for these stocks. We also suffered from being underweight the mining sector; not holding stocks such as Evraz and Centamin detracted a further 0.4% from relative performance. Gearing was 10% immediately ahead of the referendum, and detracted 0.5% from relative performance. We added a holding in Pan African Resources, a South African gold miner with which we had a good meeting. With the rising gold price this company should generate good free cash flow. Post the referendum result we took the view that a mild recession in the UK looked like a realistic possibility. We decided to reduce gearing to a more appropriate level taking it down to below 7%. This was achieved by reduction of some holdings with significant UK consumer cyclical exposure, some with high European exposure which had held up well in share price terms, and a few other holdings where our conviction had been weakening. 19 July 2016 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.