Final Results - Year Ended 31 December 1999

Shires Smaller Companies PLC
22 February 2000


                  SHIRES SMALLER COMPANIES PLC
                    PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT
                                

Shires Smaller Companies plc aims to provide an overall return
greater than that of the FTSE All-Share Index from a portfolio
invested principally in high-yielding securities of UK smaller
companies.
                                
     Preliminary Results for the Year Ended 31 December 1999

                                            1999        1998

Net assets attributable to shareholders    £47.8m      £34.9m
Fully diluted net asset value per share    228.7p      166.9p
Dividends per share                          6.6p        6.4p


   Total return on net assets for the year was 41.5%, compared
   with a return of  53.4% on the FTSE SmallCap Index (excluding
   Investment Companies) and 20.6% on the FTSE 100 Index.
   
   The good return in absolute terms was below benchmark
   because the Company's dividend objective restricts investment in
   low-yielding equities.
   
   The proposed final dividend is 2.25p per share, making a
   total of 6.6p for the year, an increase of 3.1% on 1998.
   
   It is intended to take on additional gearing to raise the
   yield on net assets while still retaining the Company's growth
   characteristics, with a view to achieving a lower discount.

For further information, please contact:-


David Williams,     Managing Director,
                    Glasgow Investment Managers        0141 572 2700


        
                 Shires Smaller Companies plc
                                
                    Chairman's Statement

Introduction

Investment in the shares of UK smaller companies provided very
good returns in 1999 which more than recovered the shortfall in
performance relative to large market capitalisation stocks
suffered in 1998.  The FTSE SmallCap Index (excluding Investment
Companies) returned 53.4% over the year, well ahead of the 20.6%
return on the FTSE 100 Index.

This simple statement of good performance over the year hides a
more complex picture.  In the first half of the year the more
cyclical stocks, particularly in the Basic Industries, General
Industrials and Cyclical Services groups, provided very good
returns as interest rates fell and forecasts of aggregate output
growth in the UK economy were raised.  In the second half of the
year, however, when interest rates began to rise again, the
performance of cyclical stocks deteriorated and more growth
orientated shares, in Services and Information Technology, took
up the running.  In the last four months of 1999 the smaller
companies in the group returned 208.0%.

Investment Returns

The total return on net assets of Shires Smaller Companies was
41.5%.  This good return in absolute terms was below the 53.4%
return on the Company's benchmark, the FTSE SmallCap Index
(excluding Investment Companies), largely because the Company's
dividend objective limits the number of low-yielding equities
which may be included in the portfolio.

Over the year under review the discount at which the Company's
ordinary share price stood to underlying fully diluted net asset
value per share rose from 23.3% to 27.4%.  As a result the
return to an ordinary shareholder, at 35.1%, was lower than the
return on net assets.  Since 31 December 1999, the Company's
year end, the discount has fallen.  It stood at 24.4% at 31
January 2000.

Earnings and Dividends

Net revenue return per share rose by 32.4% to 8.05p from 6.08p
last year, due principally to the receipt of special dividends
from Helical Bar and Anglian Group.

The Directors are proposing a final dividend of 2.25p per
ordinary share, which brings total dividends for the year to
6.6p per share, a rise of 3.1% compared with 1998.  If approved,
the final dividend will be paid on 31 March 2000 to shareholders
on the register at close of business on 10 March 2000.

Portfolio Profile

After the stockmarket setback in the third quarter of 1998 short-
term borrowing was raised to finance additional investment in
smaller companies' shares, which at that time appeared to
represent attractive value, and gearing rose to 34.9% of net
assets.  In the course of 1999, as share prices rose, the
exposures to ordinary shares and convertibles were progressively
reduced.  Some of the short-term borrowings were repaid and
gearing fell to 23.6%.

Share Repurchase

The authority to buy back the Company's ordinary shares, first
granted by shareholders at the Extraordinary General Meeting in
March 1998, was renewed at the Annual General Meeting in March
1999.  The Company was then advised that in order to repurchase
its shares it might need to revoke its investment company
status, which could have affected its ability to pay dividends
in certain circumstances.

Regulations have recently been introduced, however, which allow
an investment company to purchase its own shares out of capital
profits without loss of investment company status.  The
Directors now propose to amend the Articles of Association to
take advantage of the new regulations.  A resolution to achieve
this will be proposed at the Annual General Meeting.  Once the
Articles have been amended, any buying back of shares will be
made through capital reserves and it will not be necessary to
reduce the share premium account.

Investment Policy and Share Price Rating

During the first three years of the Company's life its ordinary
shares very rarely traded on a greater than 5% discount to fully
diluted net asset value per share. Indeed at times they traded
on a small premium. Over the last four years, however, the
discount has generally ranged from 15% to 20%, until the last
quarter of 1999 when it rose again to end the year at 27.4%. The
higher discount may be attributed to two main factors: an
oversupply of smaller company investment trusts at a time when
smaller companies have performed less well than the UK equity
market as a whole; and the yield on the Company's shares, while
still at a significant premium to UK ordinary shares in general,
is now less attractive to those seeking income than the yield
available from a number of alternative vehicles.

The Board, therefore, intends to take on additional gearing in
order to permit the yield on net assets to be raised. As it is
the intention that the value of the Company's holding of
ordinary shares will continue to exceed the value of its net
assets, the Directors believe that this is compatible with
retaining the growth characteristics of the Company. The
Directors also believe that the higher yield will result in a
significant reduction in the discount.

Continuation Vote

As required by the Company's Articles of Association, at the
forthcoming Annual General Meeting an ordinary resolution will
be proposed that the Company should continue as an investment
trust for a further five year period.  The Board believes that
continuation is in the best interests of all shareholders
because the record under the investment strategy which has been
followed to date demonstrates the Company's ability to combine
provision of a high dividend yield with growth of both income
and capital to achieve a competitive total return from
investment in higher-yielding UK smaller companies.

The Directors, therefore, recommend shareholders to vote in
favour of the resolution, as they intend to do in respect of
their own beneficial shareholdings.

Outlook

Stocking up and celebratory spending before and over the
Millennium appears to have contributed to the recent
acceleration in UK economic activity.  With interest rates
rising and some post-Millennium slowdown expected, it seems
likely that the more optimistic forecasts of output growth this
year may not be met.  If as a result inflationary pressures
prove weaker than currently anticipated, interest rates may peak
sooner and at lower levels than currently discounted in the
money markets, a development which should presage further
progress for the UK equity market.

Annual Report and Annual General Meeting

The Annual Report will be mailed to shareholders on 22 February
2000. Copies may be obtained from the managers, Glasgow
Investment Managers Limited, Sutherland House, 149 St Vincent
Street, Glasgow G2 5DR after that date.
The Annual General Meeting will be held at Trinity House, Tower
Hill, London EC3N 4DH on Friday 24 March 2000 at 12 noon.

J Stubbs
Chairman
                  

                  SHIRES SMALLER COMPANIES PLC
                                
                    Statement of Total Return
               (incorporating the Revenue Account)
               for the year ended 31 December 1999


                                1999                    1998
                                                  (restated) (see note 3)
                                                      
                         Revenue   Capital  Total     Revenue  Capital  Total
                         £000      £000     £000      £000     £000     £000
                                              
                                                              
Gains/(Losses)on 
investments                -      13,948    13,948     -       (1,518) (1,518)
Cancellation of warrants            (227)     (227)                (3)     (3)
Income                   2,491     -          2,491   2,113      -      2,113
                                       
Investment management 
fee                        216       216        432     211       211     422
Other administrative 
expenses                   179       -          179     201         -     201

NET RETURN BEFORE                                             
FINANCE COSTS                                            
AND TAXATION             2,096    13,505     15,601   1,701    (1,732)    (31)  
      
                               
Finance  costs  of       514         514     1,028      511       511   1,022
borrowings                             
                         _____     _____     ______    ______    _____  _____
RETURN ON ORDINARY                                              
ACTIVITIES BEFORE                   
TAXATION               1,582     12,991     14,573    1,190    (2,243) (1,053)  
   
                                                                    
Taxation                   -        -           -         2        -       2
                         _____     _____      _____     _____     _____   _____
RETURN ON ORDINARY                                              
  ACTIVITIES AFTER                                            
  TAXATION FOR THE                                            
  FINANCIAL YEAR         1,582   12,991      14,573    1,192   (2,243) (1,051)
                                         
                                                              
Dividends       on       1,297       -        1,297    1,255        -    1,255
equity shares
                         _____    _____        _____   _____     _____    _____
TRANSFER TO/(FROM)                                              
  RESERVES               285    12,991        13,276    (63)  (2,243)  (2,306)  
  
                                  
Return per share                                              
                                                              
 - undiluted            8.05p  66.12p        74.17p    6.08p (11.45)p (5.37)p
                                           
                                                              
 - fully diluted        7.67p  62.98p        70.65p    5.72p (10.77)p (5.05)p
                                  
                         
Dividends per                                            
share                  6.60p                           6.40p

                                
                                
                                
                                
                  SHIRES SMALLER COMPANIES PLC

                                
Distribution of Assets

                  Valuation at                                Valuation at
                31 December 1998   Movements during the year 31 December 1999

                                                Appreciation/
                              Purchases  Sales  (Depreciation)
                 £000      %     £000    £000        £000      £000   %

Ordinary shares 41,371  118.7   14,376  15,800       14,520   54,467  113.9
Convertibles    5,666   16.2        -     445          (572)   4,649    9.7
                _____   ____    _____   _____          ____   _________
               47,037  134.9   14,376  16,245        13,948   59,116  123.6
                                                  
Net   current   
liabilities    (2,209) (6.3)                                  (1,333) (2.8)
                _____   ____                                  ______  ______

TOTAL ASSETS 
(less current 
liabilities)    44,828 128.6                                  57,783  120.8

Long term loan (9,962) (28.6)                                 (9,968) (20.8)
                _____   ____                                ________   ____
NET  ASSETS    34,866  100.0                                  47,815  100.0
                                                               
                                
Net asset value per share

- undiluted         177.5p                                  243.3p
- fully diluted     166.9p                                  228.7p


Notes

1.   All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive
  from  continuing  operations. No operations were  acquired  or
  discontinued in the year.

2.   The financial information set out above does not constitute
  the Company's statutory accounts for the years ended 31 December
  1998  and  1999 but is derived from those accounts.  Statutory
  accounts  for  1998  have been delivered to  the  Register  of
  Companies, and those for 1999 will be delivered following  the
  Company's annual general meeting. The auditors have reported on
  those  accounts; their reports were unqualified  and  did  not
  contain statements under section 237(2) or (3) of the Companies
  Act 1985.

3.    Dividends  are credited to revenue on the  date  when  the
  investment is first quoted ex-dividend at the amount receivable
  without  any  attributable tax credit. This  is  a  change  in
  accounting policy to comply with Financial Reporting Standard 16
  'Current   Tax'  which  has  replaced  Statement  of  Standard
  Accounting  Practice  8. Under the latter Standard,  dividends
  (other than foreign income dividends) were recognised inclusive
  of an attributable tax credit which also formed part of the tax
  charge.  There  is no overall impact on return after  tax  and
  shareholders' funds.