Benchmark

F&C Pacific Inv Tst 
09 January 2004

F&C PACIFIC INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

BENCHMARK

The Board of F&C Pacific Investment Trust PLC ('the Company') announces that,
with effect from 1 February 2004, being the start of the Company's new financial
year, the benchmark against which the performance of the portfolio is measured
will be the MSCI AC Asia Pacific Free Index.

Previously, the benchmark was a composite index which comprised 50% Japan and
50% the rest of the region. That benchmark was set by the Board in 1999 at a
time when the market capitalisation of Japan was approximately 75% of the total
market capitalisation of the Asia Pacific region and the Board believed that
shareholders wanted a more balanced exposure to the region. Now Japan
constitutes approximately 60% of the MSCI AC Asia Pacific Free Index and the
Board believes that a single index is a more suitable and clearer measure of the
Company's portfolio performance.

The objective of the Company remains to provide shareholders who are seeking
investment in the Asia Pacific region with a broad exposure to those markets and
to outperform the agreed benchmark.


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