Performance at Month End

Mercury Keystone Inv Trust PLC
8 September 2000


MERCURY KEYSTONE INVESTMENT TRUST plc
All information is at 31st August 2000 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested
                         Three     One     Three    Five
                         months    year    years    years
Net asset value           6.8%     6.4%    45.8%    112.6%
Share price               8.1%    -6.0%    25.8%     72.4%
FTSE All-Share Index      7.0%    11.6%    51.6%    118.2%

At month end
Net asset value*                1323.11p
Share price:                    1105.00p
Discount:                          16.5%
Total assets:                    £227.3m
Net yield:                          2.7%
Gearing:                           21.2%
Effective gearing:                 19.8%
Value of debt:                    £40.0m
Ordinary shares in issue:     14,175,562

* Includes current year net revenue of 20p after an interim dividend payment
  of 10p.

UK Sectors                   % Portfolio
Non-Cyclical Services               25.4
Financials                          21.9
Resources                           17.8
Non-Cyclical Consumer Goods         12.5
Cyclical Services                   11.7
General Industrials                  4.4
Utilities                            3.0
Basic Industries                     2.1
Cash/Fixed Interest                  1.2
                                   -----
Total                              100.0
                                   =====

Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company                    % Investments

BP Amoco                             5.4
HSBC                                 5.0
Glaxo Wellcome                       4.0
Vodafone AirTouch                    3.7
British Telecom                      3.7
Pearson                              3.6
Shell Transport and Trading          3.4
Mercury Grosvenor Trust              3.0
Colt Telecom                         2.9
Cable & Wireless                     2.8
                                   -----
Total                               37.5
                                   =====

Sources: Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, Standard & Poor's Micropal
Latest information is available by typing www.mam.com/its on the internet,
'MAMINDEX' on Reuters, 'MAMI' on Bloomberg or '8800' on Topic 3 (ICV
terminal).