Performance at Month End

Merrill Lynch Greater Europe IT PLC
13 October 2004




MERRILL LYNCH GREATER EUROPE INVESTMENT TRUST plc

All information is at 30 September 2004 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested
                                                             Since launch
                                                               (20Sep04)
Net asset value                                                    0.0
Share price                                                       -1.9%
FTSE World Europe ex UK                                           -0.3%

Sources: Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, Morgan Stanley Capital
International, Standard and Poor's.


At month end
Net asset value:                       100.06p
Share price:                            92.25p
Discount to NAV:                          7.8%
Net yield:                                 N/A

Total assets:                          £165.0m
Ordinary shares in issue:              164,841,285


Benchmark
Sector Analysis                       Total Assets (%)      Index (%) Country Analysis                  Total Assets (%)

Financials                                        29.3           29.4 France                                        21.0
Resources/Energy                                   9.9            9.6 Italy                                         13.8
Non-Cyclical Consumer Goods                        8.7           16.1 Germany                                       11.3
Cyclical Services                                  7.9            5.9 Switzerland                                   10.9
Telecoms                                           7.0            8.8 Netherlands                                    8.6
Cyclical Goods                                     6.6            4.9 Sweden                                         5.8
Technology                                         5.1            5.4 Scandinavia                                    5.1
Basic Industries                                   4.9            7.1 Spain                                          3.4
Utilities                                          4.1            5.6 Russia                                         2.8
Other Investments                                  2.4              - Ireland                                        2.3
Capital Goods                                      1.7            5.8 Other Countries                                4.0
Non-Cyclical Services                              1.4            1.4 Cash/Net Current Assets                       11.0
Cash/Net Current Assets                           11.0              -
                                                 -----          -----                                              -----
                                                 100.0          100.0                                              100.0
                                                 -----          -----                                              -----


Ten Largest Equity Investments

Company                                     % of Investments              Country of Risk
Total                                                                 3.9   France
E.On                                                                  3.0   Germany
Ericsson                                                              2.6   Sweden
ENI                                                                   2.6   Italy
BNP Paribas                                                           2.5   France
IntesaBci                                                             2.5   Italy
Capitalia Spa                                                         2.5   Italy
UBS                                                                   2.4   Switzerland
Allied Irish Bank                                                     2.3   Ireland
New Century Holdings Eagle                                            2.1   Russia
                                                                     ----
Total                                                                26.4
                                                                     ----



Commenting on the markets, James Macmillan, representing the Investment Manager
noted:



I am very pleased to welcome you to the inaugural commentary on the new Greater
Europe Investment Trust. This month I will give some insights into the
investment strategy we have adopted at the outset of the trust.



At present we are rather cautious about European equity markets, for a number of
reasons. Our central thesis is that the rate of revisions to global earnings has
just peaked in line with the slowdown predicted earlier this year by the leading
economic indicators. While the European trend still looks favourable in a global
context due to its later cycle nature, the earnings deceleration will act as a
strong headwind for equity markets. Although the anticipated rate of economic
growth in 2005 is reasonable in Western Europe, fuelled by the global economic
upswing, it is anaemic in a historical context and now largely discounted in
current share prices. A third discomfort is the well publicised strength in
energy and commodity prices, which in our view will not be a short lived
phenomenon. Their impact will be felt in two ways; first to raise concerns at
the Central Banks about cost push inflation and second at the corporate level to
act as a dampener to profit margins.



We firmly believe that there are a number of compelling investment opportunities
in the emerging markets of Europe, but at present the recent strong performance
of these markets is deterring us from a significant commitment. The valuations
of the emerging European markets such as Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic have
converged to those of the developed markets.



The main themes that characterise the portfolio are selected exposure to the
energy and commodity sectors, to the European consumer, whose personal balance
sheet remains healthy and to the financial and telecom sectors where we still
find very attractive valuations / investments.



We favour a balance between companies that can profitably grow their revenues
(e.g. Hennes & Mauritz, Ericsson) and those whose management is committed to
returning excess capital to shareholders (Total, E.On). This latter process is
typically achieved either by share buybacks or high dividend payouts - we are
particularly interested in companies that have the ability to grow their
dividend stream meaningfully.



In the emerging European markets we are currently only invested in Turkey (1.0%
of total assets) and Russia (2.8% of total assets). Turkey is well placed to
benefit from the next wave of convergence as part of its plan to join the EU and
current valuations are attractive, while Russia, despite the higher political
risk premium, offers some great bargains in the resources sector.



The portfolio as at 30 September was 85% invested in Western Europe, 4% in
Emerging Europe with 11% held in cash. There are likely to be a number of near
term opportunities to invest some of the cash due to a promising pipeline of
IPO's and secondary market offerings, particularly in emerging Europe.



I look forward to reviewing the progress of our investment strategy over the
coming months.



Latest information is available by typing www.mlim.co.uk/its on the internet,
'MLIMINDEX' on Reuters, 'MLIM' on Bloomberg or '8800' on Topic 3 (ICV terminal).



13 October 2004




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange        CQKNKPCBDKDKD