Performance at Month End

Merrill Lynch UK Inv Tst PLC
14 August 2002


MONTHLY PERFORMANCE
MERRILL LYNCH UK INVESTMENT TRUST plc
All information is at 31 July 2002 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

                                        One              Three               One              Three               Five
                                      month             months              year              years              years
Net asset value                      -11.2%             -21.4%            -30.5%             -41.5%             -20.5%
Share price                          -12.7%             -22.4%            -35.4%             -46.6%             -31.0%
FTSE All-Share Index                  -9.2%             -17.9%            -20.8%             -24.5%               1.2%

 Sources: Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, Standard & Poor's Micropal

At month end
Net asset value*                                                             684.40p
Share price:                                                                 571.50p
Discount:                                                                      16.5%
Total assets:                                                                £130.5m
Net Yield:                                                                      5.0%
Gearing:                                                                       43.5%
Effective gearing:                                                             13.5%
Value of debt:                                                                £39.5m
Ordinary shares in issue:                                                 13,393,799

*Includes current year net revenue of 5.30p.

UK Sectors                                                                       % Total Assets
Financials                                                                                 25.8
Non-Cyclical Consumer Goods                                                                14.3
Resources                                                                                  12.0
Cyclical Services                                                                          11.9
Non-Cyclical Services                                                                       7.8
General Industrials                                                                         2.1
Basic Industries                                                                            2.1
Information Technology                                                                      1.7
Utilities                                                                                   1.4
Cash                                                                                       21.5
Net current liabilities                                                                   (0.6)
Total                                                                                    100.0


Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company
                                                                                  % Investments
BP                                                                                          9.8
HSBC                                                                                        6.4
HBOS                                                                                        6.2
Barclays                                                                                    6.0
Royal Bank of Scotland                                                                      5.4
GlaxoSmithKline                                                                             5.2
AstraZeneca                                                                                 4.9
Vodafone                                                                                    4.3
Amersham                                                                                    3.3
Next                                                                                        2.9
Total                                                                                      54.4


Market commentary

UK Stockmarket Review

UK equities remained volatile over the month, with the FTSE All-Share falling
9.2% in sterling terms. Concerns over the reliability of company accounts, fears
of a 'double dip' recession in the US and the possibility of forced equity
selling by UK insurers all conspired to drive the market down. The insurance and
life assurance sectors were particularly weak, with pharmaceuticals, support
services and mining the other main contributors to market declines.  Telecoms
rebounded over the month, whilst banks proved relatively resilient.

Performance Review

The Company's Net Asset Value (NAV) fell 11.2% in July, underperforming the FTSE
All Share Index.

We suffered from our holdings in mining shares, most notably Lonmin and Anglo
American, as the sector was hit by concerns about the South African Minerals
Industry Charter. The telecoms sector enjoyed a bounce following months of
underperformance. Although we benefited from and our large overweight position
in mm02, our light representation in Vodafone detracted from returns as it
proved to be one of the best performing stocks in the Index over the month.
Banking shares also performed well and although we suffered from not holding
Lloyds TSB, which performed strongly, we benefited from our overweight position
in HBOS after it staged a strong relative recovery. Defensive areas, seen as
safe havens in these turbulent markets, were favoured, and performance was
adversely affected by our low exposure to the tobacco sector.

Outlook

Although we believe that UK shares are now attractively valued, especially
relative to bonds, it is impossible to say whether we have reached the bottom of
this stockmarket cycle. We could possibly see a further downside over the coming
months. We remain cautious but intend to use stockmarket falls as buying
opportunities to increase our exposure to high quality companies where value is
compelling.

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).

14 August 2002






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