Month End Performance - 31st January 2000

Mercury Keystone Inv Trust PLC
9 February 2000


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

Performance at month end with net income reinvested
                        Three     One     Three       Five
                       months    year     years       years
Net asset value        - 0.4%   + 9.1%    +43.1%     +125.8%
Share price            - 7.2%   - 4.0%    +24.5%     + 99.6%
FTSE All-Share Index   + 2.8%   +13.2%    +54.7%     +133.9%

At month end
Net asset value*                    1183.51p 
Share price:                        1022.50p
Discount:                             13.60%
Total assets:                       £209.00m
Net yield:                             2.9%
Gearing:                              23.5%
Effective gearing:                    19.0%
Value of debt:                       £40.0m
Ordinary shares in issue:        14,302,562
* Includes current year net revenue   11.5p

UK Sectors                   % Portfolio
Financials                          21.8
Cyclical Services                   16.5
Non-Cyclical Services               16.6
Resources                           12.3
Non-Cyclical Consumer Goods         11.9
General Industrials                  8.9
Basic Industries                     5.4
Utilities                            4.0
Cash/Fixed interest                  2.6
                                   -----
Total                              100.0
                                   -----

Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company                   % Investments

Vodafone Airtouch                    6.7
BP Amoco                             6.4
British Telecom                      5.7
Shell Transport and Trading          4.1
Glaxo Wellcome                       3.9
Cable & Wireless                     3.4
SmithKline Beecham                   3.1
HSBC                                 2.7
Reuters                              2.6
Mercury Grosvenor Trust              2.4
                                    ----
Total                               41.0
                                    ----

Sources: Mercury Asset Management Ltd, Micropal
Latest information is available by typing 'MAMINDEX' on Reuters, 'MAMI' on
Bloomberg or '8800' on Topic 3 (ICV terminal).