Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 3175F

Scottish Mortgage Inv Tst PLC

11 January 2010

SCOTTISH MORTGAGE INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

Interim Management Statement - 3 months to 31 December 2009

Scottish Mortgage is a low cost investment trust that aims to maximise total return over the long term from a focused and actively managed portfolio of equities. It invests globally, looking for strong businesses with above-average returns.

Review of the Period

	Over the 3 month period, the Company's net asset value rose by 8.0% and the share price rose by 8.5%. The FTSE All World Index in sterling terms (the benchmark) increased by 3.6%. All figures are total return.
	The interim dividend of 5.50p per share was paid on 27 November 2009.
	During the period 3,445,000 shares were bought back at a cost of £18.0m, enhancing the net asset value per share by 0.17%.
	Additional purchases of Baidu and New Oriental Education & Technology have resulted in them joining the list of Top Twenty Equity holdings, while partial sales of China Mobile, Porsche and Vestas Windsystems have meant that they dropped out of the Top Twenty.
	Sir Donald MacKay retired as Chairman of Scottish Mortgage on 31 December 2009 and Mr John Scott, who joined the Board in 2001, succeeds him as Chairman of the Company.

Top Twenty Equity Holdings
Name	% of total assets at 31/12/09	% of total assets at 30/09/09	Name	% of total assets at 31/12/09	% of total assets at 30/09/09
Petrobras	5.7	5.8	Baidu	1.9	0.9
Amazon.com	5.1	3.7	Standard Chartered	1.9	1.9
Banco Santander	4.6	4.7	Sandvik	1.7	2.3
Atlas Copco	4.2	4.9	Gazprom	1.7	1.8
Google	3.6	3.0	Progressive Ohio	1.7	1.6
Vale (CVRD)	3.4	3.2	First Solar	1.6	1.9
Nintendo	2.4	2.5	Berkshire Hathaway	1.4	1.5
Deere	2.0	1.7	New Oriental Education
Walgreen	2.0	2.2	& Technology	1.4	0.6
PPR	1.9	1.9	Schlumberger	1.4	1.4
Taiwan Semiconductor
Manufacturing	1.9	1.8	Total	51.5	49.3

Total Return Performance

	%
	3 Months	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years
Share Price	8.5	52.9	9.8	82.1
NAV	8.0	50.0	8.8	68.4
Benchmark	3.6	21.2	8.7*	49.2*

Source: Thomson Financial Datastream/Baillie Gifford & Co

*Benchmark - On 1 April 2007 the Company changed its benchmark to 100% FTSE All World Index (in sterling terms) from 50% FTSE All-Share Index and 50% FTSE World Ex UK Index (in sterling terms).

The Company aims to achieve a greater return than the FTSE All World Index (in sterling terms) over a five year rolling period.

For the purposes of the performance data above, the returns for their respective periods have been calculated by sequentially linking the original benchmark data until 31 March 2007 with the new benchmark data from 1 April 2007.

Past performance is not a guide to future performance

General Information
	31/12/09	30/09/09
Share price	539.0p	502.0p

Net asset value per share † (after deducting borrowings at fair value)	609.6p	567.8p
Net asset value per share † (after deducting borrowings at par)	627.1p	589.4p

Discount (borrowings at fair value)	11.6%	11.6%
Discount (borrowings at par)	14.0%	14.8%

Total assets (before deduction of borrowings)	£1,981.0m	£1,904.1m

Total borrowings (at fair value)	£346.5m	£362.1m
Total borrowings (at par)	£299.8m	£303.4m

Potential Gearing ( borrowings at par)	17.8%	19.0%
Actual Gearing (borrowings at par)	11.2%	11.8%

Potential Gearing (borrowings at fair value)	21.2%	23.5%
Actual Gearing (borrowings at fair value)	14.3%	16.1%