Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST PLC All information is at3O November 2015 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*	0.8	1.2	18.0		66.9	93.7
Share price*	3.8	3.9	25.8		78.6	112.4
Numis ex Inv Companies + AIM	-0.3	-1.3	5.4		28.6	38.3
*performance calculations based on a capital only NAV with debt at par, without income reinvested. Share price performance calculations exclude income reinvestment.
Sources:  BlackRock and Datastream
At month end
Net asset value Capital only (debt at par value):				1038.81p
Net asset value Capital only (debt at fair value):				1028.58p
Net asset value incl. Income (debt at par value)**:				1050.12p
Net asset value incl. Income (debt at fair value)**:				1039.89p
Share price				962.00p
Discount to Cum Income NAV (debt at par value):				8.4%
Discount to Cum Income NAV (debt at fair value):				7.5%
Net yield^^^:				1.7%
Gross assets^:				£542.7m
Gearing range as a % of net assets:				0-15%
Net gearing including income (debt at par):				8.0%
2015 Ongoing charges ratio^^				0.7%
2015 Ongoing charges ratio (including performance fees):				1.0%
Ordinary shares in issue#:				47,879,792
*performance calculations based on a capital only NAV with debt at par, without income reinvested. Share price performance calculations exclude income reinvestment. **includes net revenue of 11.31p ^includes current year revenue ^^ As reported in the Annual Financial Report for the year ended 28 February 2015, the ongoing charges ratio is calculated as a percentage of net assets and using operating expenses, excluding performance fees, finance costs and taxation. ^^^Yield calculations are based on dividends announced in the last 12 months as at the date of release of this announcement, and comprise of the Final dividend of 9.00 pence per share, (announced on 27 April 2015, gone ex-dividend on 21 May 2015) and the interim dividend of 7.00 pence per share (announced on 26 October 2015 and going ex-dividend on 5 November 2015) excludes 2,113,731 shares held in treasury.
Sector Weightings	% of portfolio
Industrials	25.5
Consumer Services	20.5
Financials	19.1
Technology	10.0
Health Care	8.9
Consumer Goods	8.5
Basic Materials	5.2
Oil & Gas	1.8
Telecommunications	0.5
	-----
Total	100.0
	=====
Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company	% of portfolio
CVS Group	2.3
4imprint Group	2.1
Hutchison China Meditech	1.8
Avon Rubber	1.8
Savills	1.7
Workspace Group	1.7
Topps Tiles	1.7
Rathbone Brothers	1.6
Ted Baker	1.6
Restore	1.5
Commenting on the markets, Mike Prentis, representing the Investment Manager noted:
During November the Company’s NAV per share rose by 0.8% on a capital only basis whilst the benchmark index fell by 0.3%; the FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.1%. Relative outperformance was mainly derived from good stock selection. Neither sector allocation nor gearing had much impact on relative performance during the month. The largest positive contributors to stock selection during the month were our holdings in Fevertree Drinks, CVS Group and Topps Tiles. Fevertree Drinks put out a trading update ahead of its December year end. This confirmed that the company has continued to perform strongly in its second half and the Board anticipates results for the full year to be materially ahead of expectations. CVS Group announced at its AGM that in the 4 months to 31 October 2015 like-for-like sales grew by 3.2%, and that 31 surgeries had been acquired. There was no news from Topps Tiles which had updated the market on 30 September. In early December Topps Tiles released good full year results with earnings per share up 23.2%. The largest detractor from relative performance was Gemfields. Shares in Gemfields were weak, as the precious stones sector has seen lower demand and lower prices. We reduced or sold holdings in several companies where our conviction about trading has weakened. We added two holdings in the IT sector, NCC Group and Softcat. NCC is a global information assurance specialist providing organisations worldwide with escrow, verification, security consulting and domain services. We took part in a placing to fund the purchase of Fox-IT, based in the Netherlands. Fox is a leading provider of high-end cyber security solutions including advanced threat intelligence. Softcat provides organisations with software licensing, client computing, data centre infrastructure, networking and security combined with all the services they require to design, implement, support and manage these solutions, on premise or in the cloud. The Company achieved an IPO during the month; we were impressed by management and the success they have had over a long period.
15 December 2015
ENDS
Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/brsc on the internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV terminal).  Neither the contents of the Manager’s website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Manager’s website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.