Top Ten Holdings

Merchants Trust PLC
06 February 2004

                                    THE MERCHANTS TRUST PLC

                             TOP 10 HOLDINGS AS AT 30 JANUARY 2004

Stock Name                                                             Market Value           %
                                                                       £

BP                                                                     38,756,625          8.20
HSBC                                                                   38,493,000          8.15
GlaxoSmithkline                                                        23,600,000          5.00
Shell Transport and Trading                                            20,199,600          4.28
Barclays                                                               20,097,000          4.25
Royal Bank of Scotland                                                 19,440,000          4.12
Lloyds TSB                                                             15,456,000          3.27
BT                                                                     14,499,375          3.07
HBOS                                                                   12,359,000          2.62
Imperial Tobacco                                                       10,820,000          2.29

Total Assets less Current Liabilities                                 472,393,473


Enquiries:

Kirsten Salt
Company Secretary
Tel: [phone]

6th February 2004



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