Directorate change

EDINBURGH SMALL COMPANIES TRUST PLC (`the Company')

Appointment of non-executive director

The Board of Directors of the Company is pleased to announce the appointment of
David Ernest Woods as a non-executive Director of the Company with effect from 5
May 2005.

Mr Woods, 57, is currently chairman of Royal Liver Assurance, the second largest
friendly society in the UK.   From 1998 to 2002, he was Managing Director of The
Scottish Provident Group, steering that business to the leading position in the
UK protection market, and subsequently managing the organisation through the
process of its demutualisation and successful sale to the Abbey National Group.
He has spent more than 35 years working in the life insurance and investment
industries both in the UK and abroad after qualifying as a Fellow of the
Institute of Actuaries in 1973.

Mr Woods is also a non-executive director of Kiln plc. He is chairman of the
trustees of The Xansa plc Pension Funds and a Member of the Court of Heriot Watt
University. Mr Woods' former directorships of publicly listed companies are
detailed below.

In accordance with paragraph 16.4 of the Listing Rules of the UK Listing
Authority, the Company confirms that there are no details on Mr Woods which
require to be disclosed in relation to paragraph 6.F.2 (b) to (g).

For Edinburgh Small Companies Trust plc
Edinburgh Fund Managers plc, SECRETARY

5 May 2005

Former public company directorships of Mr Woods

Aberdeen Asset Management PLC                     Retired 31 January 2004
Capital Opportunities Trust PLC
(formerly Voyageur Europ. Smaller Cos Trust PLC)  Retired 30 November 2003
SPI Finance PLC                                   Retired 1 May 2002
Abbey National Life plc                           Retired 1 May 2002