Interim Management Statement

Scottish Oriental Smlr Co Tst PLC
18 December 2007


               THE SCOTTISH ORIENTAL SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST PLC

          Interim Management Statement - 3 months to 30 November 2007


Scottish Oriental aims to achieve long term capital growth by investing in
smaller Asian quoted companies with market capitalizations under US$1,000m at
the time of investment, or the equivalent. Asia is deemed to include the Indian
subcontinent but excludes Japan and Australasia.


   •Scottish Oriental's net asset value (NAV) rose by 2.0% over the period
    compared to increases of 11.4% in the MSCI Asia (ex Japan) Index and 3.9% in
    the Nomura Asia Small Cap Index.
   •The Trust's underperformance relative to the MSCI Asia (ex Japan) Index
    was largely due to its underweight position in China, Hong Kong and India.
   •Smaller companies generally underperformed their larger counterparts over
    the three month period with particularly sharp declines in South Korea and
    Taiwan.


Geographical Analysis of Total Assets
                           Fund           Fund      MSCI Asia    Nomura Small
                                                (ex-Japan) as Cap Index as at
                 as at 30/11/07 as at 31/08/07    at 30/11/07    30/11/07 (%)
                                                          (%)
                            (%)            (%)
China                      11.2           11.2           23.5             2.7
Hong Kong                   7.4            6.4           13.4            20.3
Taiwan                     11.8           12.9           15.0            14.6
                           30.4           30.5           51.9            37.6
India                       4.1            4.1           11.2            26.2
Indonesia                   3.6            5.2            2.5             3.2
Malaysia                   13.2           11.7            3.5             8.1
Pakistan                    0.0            0.0            0.3             0.0
Philippines                 5.7            3.9            0.8             1.5
Singapore                  13.6           12.8            6.6             8.5
Sri Lanka                   3.1            2.6            0.0             0.0
South Korea                11.4           12.6           21.3            11.1
Thailand                    8.8            8.5            2.0             3.8
Vietnam                     1.4            1.4            0.0             0.0
Cash                        4.7            6.7            0.0             0.0
Total                       100          100.0          100.0           100.0



Top Ten Largest Equity Holdings
Stock                                % of Total     % of Total
                                   Assets as at   Assets as at
                                       30/11/07       31/08/07

Raffles Medical                             2.0            1.8
Intelligent Digital Integrated              1.9            1.8
Security
HDFC                                        1.8            1.6
SM Prime                                    1.8            1.8
CSE Global                                  1.7            1.7
JVM                                         1.7            1.1
Tan Chong International                     1.7            1.6
Bukit Sembawang                             1.6            1.4
ITEQ Corp                                   1.6            1.8
Home Product Center                         1.5            1.3
Total                                      17.3           15.9



Cumulative Returns to 30 November 2007 (Capital only)

+---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
|               |3 months|6 months|1 year  |3 years |5 years |Since    |
|               |        |        |        |        |        |launch  |
|               |        |        |        |        |        |         |
|               |        |        |        |        |        |(%)      |
|               |(%)     |(%)     |(%)     |(%)     |(%)     |         |
+---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
|NAV per share  |2.0     |0.0     |24.3    |97.0    |173.9   |248.4    |
+---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
|Benchmark Index|11.4    |21.5    |40.7    |122.7   |185.7   |88.3     |
|*              |        |        |        |        |        |         |
+---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
|Nomura Asia    |3.9     |10.0    |39.9    |111.0   |189.3   |n/a      |
|Small Cap Index|        |        |        |        |        |         |
+---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
|Share price    |-8.4    |-12.2   |10.5    |68.4    |159.0   |187.5    |
+---------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+

Since launch - from 28 March 1995

* Benchmark: MSCI AC Asia (ex-Japan) Index



General Information #
                                  30/11/2007  31/8/2007
NAV per share                         345.5p     338.7p
Share price                           287.5p     314.0p
Discount (premium)                    -16.8%      -7.3%
Shares in issue                   30,213,650 30,213,650
Net assets                           £104.4m    £102.3m
Market capitalisation                 £86.9m     £94.9m

# The information provided above is based on unaudited, capital only figures.


This interim management statement and up to date NAV and share price information
is available on First State Investments website www.firststateinvestments.com.


For further information please contact:- Susie Rippingall at First State
Investments in Hong Kong by telephone [phone]) or email (
[e-mail]).




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