Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST plc

All information is at 30 April 2010 and unaudited.

Performance at month end is calculated on a capital only basis

                              One     Three        One      Three      Five      
                            Month    Months       Year      Years     Years     
Net asset value              4.2%     15.1%      59.3%      -9.4%     64.6%     
Share price                  9.3%     19.6%      60.3%     -12.0%     63.0%     
HGSC ex Inv Trust + AIM*     2.9%     10.5%      43.9%     -24.8%      7.6%    

Sources: BlackRock and Datastream

*With effect from 1 September 2007 the Hoare Govett Smaller Companies plus AIM
(ex Investment Companies) Index replaced the FTSE SmallCap Index (ex Investment
Companies) as the Company's benchmark. For three year and five year periods the
above index has been blended to reflect this.

At month end                                                                  
                                                                              
Net asset value Capital only (debt at par value):           431.56p           
Net asset value Capital only (debt at fair value):          427.30p           
Net asset value incl. Income (debt at par value):           438.73p**         
Net asset value incl. Income (debt at fair value):          434.47p**         
Share price:                                                357.00p           
Discount to Capital only NAV (debt at par value):           17.3%             
Discount to Capital only NAV (debt at fair value):          16.4%             
Net yield:                                                  1.4%              
Total assets:                                               £232.7m^          
Gearing incl. Income:                                       10.6%             
Ordinary shares in issue:                                   47,879,792^^      

**includes net revenue of 7.17p.
^includes current year revenue.
^^excludes 2,113,731 shares held in treasury.

Ten Largest Sector                                                         
Weightings                                                % of Total Assets
                                                                           
Industrial Metals & Mining                                             11.8
Software & Computer Services                                            9.8
Oil & Gas Producers                                                     8.7
Financial Services                                                      8.6
Electronic & Electrical Equipment                                       7.4
Support Services                                                        6.6
Industrial Engineering                                                  6.4
Technology Hardware & Equipment                                         5.7
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology                                         5.1
Media                                                                   4.5
                                                                       ----
Total                                                                  74.6
                                                                       ====

Ten Largest Equity Investments (in alphabetical order)

Company

Abcam Group
Aveva Group
Brewin Dolphin Holdings
Domino Printing Sciences
Eastern Platinum
Fidessa group
ITE Group
Rotork
Spirax-Sarco Engineering
Western Coal

Commenting on the markets, Mike Prentis, representing the Investment Manager
noted:

April was a good month in absolute and relative terms, with the NAV (on a
capital only basis) up 4.2%, ahead of the benchmark which was up 2.9%. The FTSE
100 Index fell by 2.2%.

From a stock point of view, no one stock had a significant positive or negative
impact on relative performance during the month. Sector allocation was
marginally positive but this was not significant.

We sold our holdings in Rensburg Sheppards, Premier Oil, Petropavlovsk and
Charter. The Rensburg Sheppards sale followed the all-share bid from Investec.
None of the other stocks are currently in our benchmark and there are other,
smaller companies in their sectors which we prefer at present.

We took new holdings in Mecom, F&C Asset Management and Galliford Try, the
latter a former holding. We had good meetings with the management of both Mecom
and F&C. Mecom is a publisher operating in the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and
Poland. It is starting to see better trends in advertising for its local
newspapers and has resilient subscription revenues, a rapidly growing online
business, and a significantly lower cost base following restructuring. We see
this as a highly operationally and financially geared play on advertising
recovery and on-line growth. F&C is a rather unloved asset management company,
but there are signs that investment performance is improving, net outflows are
reducing with inflows at much higher margins than outflows, and the shares look
to be bottoming at a low valuation. The acquisition of Thames River during the
month shows the focus on higher margin funds going forward. Galliford Try has
become more housebuilding orientated over the last few years, but the focus is
mainly on the South East. Whilst we are sceptical as to whether the recent rise
in house prices is soundly based, the South East does have a clear shortage of
the types of houses which Galliford build.

Late in April, and in early May, we have seen a return to extreme volatility in
markets. Whilst there are a number of areas of uncertainty, the most immediate
ones seem to be handling the excessive borrowing of some southern European
countries and the outcome of the UK general election. These areas of
uncertainty are being addressed. Further afield, GDP growth in Asia Pacific and
the Americas looks increasingly strong and we have sought to increase exposure
to these areas for some time. Whilst in a period of volatility share price
moves can be rather indiscriminate, we feel our portfolio is exposed to strong
underlying fundamentals which in time will assert themselves.

Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/its on the
internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV
terminal).

20 May 2010