Holding(s) in Company

Merrill Lynch Br. SmallerCo Tst PLC
11 July 2006


                                  SCHEDULE 10

                   NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTERESTS IN SHARES

1) Name of company:

Merrill Lynch British Smaller Companies Trust plc

2) Name of shareholder having a major interest:

HBOS plc

3) Please state whether notification indicates that it is in respect of
holding of the shareholder named in 2 above or in respect of a
non-beneficial interest or in the case of an individual holder if it is a
holding of that person's spouse or children under the age of 18:

In respect of 2 above and non-beneficial

4) Name of the registered holder(s) and, if more than one holder, the
number of shares held by each of them:

Registered Holder                                   Fund               Holding
HSDL Nominees Limited                                n/a                    23
Chase Nominees Limited a/c CMIGMAIN                IPFGW                 7,000
State Street Nominees Limited a/c FE1F              FE1F                23,750
Nortrust Nominees Limited a/c HFX06                  237                30,000
Nortrust Nominees Limited a/c HXD01                EQSTR                94,000
Nortrust Nominees Limited a/c HXG01                EQINV             1,250,000
Nortrust Nominees Limited a/c CMM13                 2314             1,170,335
Nortrust Nominees Limited a/c HXAO1                EQPEL             3,708,198

Aggregate material and non-material holding for HBOS Group           6,283,306

5) Number of shares/amount of stock acquired:

not known

6) Percentage of issued class:

not known

7) Number of shares/amount of stock disposed since last notification:

809,716

8) Percentage of issued class:

1.6%

9) Class of security:

Ordinary shares of 25p each

10) Date of transaction:

not known

11) Date company informed:

11 July 2006

12) Total holding following this notification:

6,283,306

13) Total percentage holding of issued class following this notification:

12.42%

14) Any additional information:

n/a

15) Name of contact and telephone number for queries:

Miss C Driscoll - 020 7743 2427

16) Name and signature of authorised company official responsible for
making this notification:

Miss C Driscoll
For Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Group Services Limited
Secretary

17) Date of notification:

11 July 2006


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