Performance at Month End

Merrill Lynch Br. SmallerCo Tst PLC
15 November 2005


MERRILL LYNCH BRITISH SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST plc

All information is at 31 October 2005 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                       -5.5%         1.1%          26.2%          103.3%          -8.4%
Share price                           -7.4%         2.7%          25.5%          117.6%         -10.2%
FTSE Small Cap Index (ex IC's)        -3.4%        -0.2%          14.3%           66.9%          -8.4%

Sources:  Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and Datastream.

At month end
Net asset value:                                 293.13p
Share price:                                     244.75p
Discount to NAV:                                   16.5%
Net yield:                                          1.9%

Total assets:                                    £163.0m
Gearing:                                            9.9%
Ordinary shares in issue:                        50,563,523


Ten Largest Sector
Weightings                                                                                             % of Total Assets
Support Services                                                                                                    14.5
Media & Entertainment                                                                                                7.8
Engineering & Machinery                                                                                              7.8
Mining                                                                                                               7.4
Construction & Building Materials                                                                                    7.2
Electronic & Electrical Equipment                                                                                    7.2
Software & Computer Services                                                                                         6.8
Oil & Gas                                                                                                            5.2
Health                                                                                                               4.7
Real Estate                                                                                                          4.1
                                                                                                                    ----
Total                                                                                                               72.7
                                                                                                                    ----




Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company
Aveva Group
Brewin Dolphin Holdings
BSS Group
Chaucer Holdings
Dechra Pharmaceuticals
Kier Group
Mouchel Parkman
Rathbone Brothers
Renishaw
WSP Group




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

October was a very difficult month for equity markets, and for the Company. The
Company's NAV fell by 5.5% and the benchmark index by 3.4%.

The most disappointing share price performances came from Consolidated Minerals,
Bowleven, Dicom and Sanderson Group. Consolidated Minerals indicated that its
excellent CEO would leave at the end of his contract in June 2006, and pointed
to weaker manganese prices during the summer and early autumn. A top 10 holding
in recent months, the shares fell 22% during October. However, the month ended
with the company's CEO agreeing he would stay longer with the company, and first
signs that manganese prices are beginning to firm again, as happened in 2004.
Shares in Consolidated Minerals trade at only eight times earnings for its year
to 30 June 2006.

Bowleven, 0.5% of the Company's total assets at the start of the month,
announced the results of its first well, drilled offshore from Cameroon. The
well did not encounter commercial quantities of oil, and the shares fell
sharply. The company has funding for six wells, the second of which is currently
being drilled; the remaining four will be drilled next year.

Dicom and Sanderson are both software companies, and each warned that the
September quarter had been slightly disappointing. We were particularly
surprised by the Dicom announcement since it had traded well through the
difficult technology markets of 2001 to 2003. The holding has now been sold.

Good share price performances were seen from Brewin Dolphin, Kier, MTL, ITE,
CSR, Plasmon, Highway Insurance and Premier Research. Brewin Dolphin, ITE and
Plasmon released good trading updates. MTL and Premier Research delivered good
results. The share prices of Kier, CSR and Highway continued to react to good
news in the previous month.

Holdings in Charter, Rathbone and JKX were increased materially after good
meetings. Holdings in Dicom, TTPCom, Homebuy and Intec were all sold.

We see the movement in October as a temporary setback. The Company mainly holds
good quality growth companies, but also has an overweight position in resources
and is underweight the main UK consumer sectors. We continue to believe this
orientation should result in reasonable performance over the coming months.



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'MLIMINDEX' on Reuters, 'MLIM' on Bloomberg or '8800' on Topic 3 (ICV terminal).



15 November 2005


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