Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 1928N

British Portfolio Trust PLC

11 February 2009

British Portfolio Trust PLC

For the quarter ended 31 January 2009

This interim management statement relates to the quarter from 1 November 2008 to 31 January 2009 and contains information for that period unless otherwise stated. This statement is produced to provide information in accordance with the UK Listing Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Investment objective

The objective of British Portfolio Trust plc is to provide growth in capital and income through a policy of investing in UK listed companies. Such equities will consist mainly of shares in FTSE 100 companies, but will also include medium-sized and smaller companies.

Portfolio

Top ten holdings at 31 January 2009 and percentage of total gross assets

	£	%
Vodafone	3,582,153	8.33
BP	3,509,185	8.16
Royal Dutch Shell 'B'	3,470,783	8.07
GlaxoSmithKline	3,462,204	8.05
BG Group	2,084,561	4.85
AstraZeneca	1,832,882	4.26
BHP Billiton	1,497,857	3.48
HSBC	1,493,250	3.47
BAE Systems	1,267,088	2.95
Compass	1,167,050	2.71

Material events and transactions

During the period 1,286,080 ordinary shares were purchased for cancellation.

On 17th December 2008 Mr N R Gold was appointed a Director of the Company.

Financial Performance to 31 January 2009

			% change
	3m	6m		1yr	3yrs	5yrs
Share price	-7.50	-34.52		-39.49	-35.71	-8.53
Net Asset Value	-6.97	-36.42		-41.05	-37.36	-8.84
Benchmark*	-4.00	-22.95		-27.75	-21.16	12.70

Source: Datastream

Total return with net dividends reinvested and net of fees.

* FTSE All-Share Total Return

Financial position at 31 January and 10 February 2009

	31 January	10 February
Total gross assets	£42,993,451	£44,347,707
Net assets	£36,518,308	£37,842,367
Share price	94.50p	99.50p
Net asset value1	96.95p	100.19p
Discount3	-2.5%	-0.7%
Gearing 4	13.7%	13.3%
Historic Dividend Yield	5.4`%	5.1%

1 Debt at book value

2Debt at market value

Net asset values are calculated and announced daily.

3 The discount is the difference between the share price and the NAV (debt at book value) per share expressed as a percentage of the NAV per share.

4 Actual gearing - net of cash.

Company Information

Launch date		2001
EPIC		BPO
Year end		31 October
Report and Accounts		Final posted January, half-yearly posted June
AGM		February
Dividends		September and March
Price Information		Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, www.allianzgi.co.uk

Investor information

Further up to date information, including Net Asset Values and share prices, and the latest available factsheets and portfolio information, is provided on the Manager's website, which can be accessed via [www.britishportfoliotrust.co.uk] or www.rcm.com/investmenttrusts. . Investor Services can be contacted on 020 7065 1407 and information can also be obtained from the Manager's helpline on 0800 317 573.