Performance at Month End

Merrill Lynch UK Inv Tst PLC
17 January 2002


MONTHLY PERFORMANCE

MERRILL LYNCH UK INVESTMENT TRUST plc
All information is at 31 December 2001 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested


                             One    Three        One          Three        Five
                           month   months       year          years       years

Net asset value            -0.6%    10.4%     -22.7%         -13.3%       20.2%
Share price                 1.9%    16.0%     -22.2%         -26.3%        9.1%
FTSE All-Share Index        0.5%     8.2%     -13.3%           1.3%       42.4%

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

At month end
Net asset value*                                         909.96p
Share price:                                             815.00p
Discount:                                                10.4%
Total assets:                                            £165.4m
Net Yield:                                               3.7%
Gearing:                                                 31.3%
Effective gearing:                                       23.4%
Value of debt:                                           £39.5m
Ordinary shares in issue:                                13,868,562

(225,000 shares were repurchased and cancelled during the month)
*Includes current year net revenue of 1.97p

UK Sectors                                                          % Portfolio
Financials                                                                26.2
Cyclical Services                                                         17.6
Non-Cyclical Consumer Goods                                               14.6
Non-Cyclical Services                                                     14.4
Resources                                                                 12.8
Information Technology                                                     3.0
General Industrials                                                        2.5
Basic Industries                                                           2.2
Utilities                                                                  0.7
Cash                                                                       6.7
Net current liabilities                                                   (0.7)
Total                                                                    100.0


Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company
                                                                  % Investments
BP Amoco                                                                    7.6
Vodafone                                                                    6.2
Barclays                                                                    6.1
GlaxoSmithKline                                                             5.0
AstraZeneca                                                                 4.5
Royal Bank of Scotland                                                      4.3
HSBC                                                                        4.1
BskyB                                                                       3.2
British Telecom                                                             3.0
Amersham                                                                    2.9
Total                                                                      46.9



Market commentary

UK Stockmarket Review

The FTSE All Share Index rose by 0.5%, during a month of consolidation
following very strong performances in October and November.

Fund Performance Review

The Company's Net Asset Value (NAV) underperformed during December, falling by
0.6%.

The Trust benefited from the strong performance of the mining sector over the
month, in particular the holding in Lonmin, which rose strongly. Within
healthcare, Smith & Nephew aided performance, as the share continued to
perform well in recognition of strong earnings growth.

Performance was negatively impacted by the holding in BSkyB, which suffered
following a placing by one of its major shareholders, Vivendi Universal. The
equivalent of 8% of BSkyB's shares were placed, effectively saturating the
market. The shares were temporarily depressed, adversely affecting
performance, but have since recovered.

After reporting first half profits which were slightly short of market
expectations, spread betting company IG Group fell markedly. This adversely
affected Fund performance. We intend to maintain our holding, with the
expectation that the shares will recover.


Outlook
Although the near term outlook for the stockmarket remains uncertain, we
anticipate a recovery in the second half of 2002. We are slightly cautious
that the recent rally is sustainable, as investors have discounted a recovery
in the first half of the year. We anticipate that the market will pause for
breath at some point, providing further opportunities to increase our cyclical
exposure.

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).
17 January 2002