RNS Number:8257S
Scottish Oriental Smlr Co Tst PLC
03 December 2003


THE SCOTTISH ORIENTAL SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST PLC

First State Investment Management (UK) Limited, the managers of The Scottish
Oriental Smaller Companies Trust PLC (Scottish Oriental), announce that the
unaudited Net Asset Value of Scottish Oriental Ordinary shares as at 28th
November 2003 was 167.87p (assuming full conversion of all outstanding
warrants). This equates to an undiluted figure of 180.51p. Neither of these
figures include any income retention for the year to-date.

The fully-diluted and undiluted NAVs calculated to include an estimate of income
net of expenses retained for the year to-date were 169.96p and 183.00p
respectively. These latter NAVs are now given on a monthly basis to the AITC.

Capital gains tax may be payable by the Trust on the disposal of assets in
India. The rate at which gains are taxed in India is 34.5% for securities held
less than a year and 11.5% for those held for longer.

Provision has been made for net realised gains at the applicable rate. No
provision for unrealised gains (less losses) has, however, been made. If a flat
rate of 11.5% were to be assumed, ie. all securities were to be held for a year
after purchase, and we estimate that a further provision of #85,099 would arise
at prevailing share prices. This would have the impact of reducing the diluted
and undiluted net asset value by 0.28p to #50,633,455 and 0.33p to #45,888,855
respectively.






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