Monthly Report

Deutsche Equity Income Trust PLC
16 June 2003


                          Deutsche Equity Income Trust

                        REPORT FOR THE MONTH OF MAY 2003



MARKET BACKGROUND

The UK equity market continued to recover from the depressed levels achieved
earlier in the year, with the FTSE All-Share Index rising by 4.1% in capital
terms. Performance over the month was good, with our net asset value per share
rising by 5.0%, but the share price rose by a disappointing 1.3% as the discount
to net asset value increased from 0.2% to 3.8%.

Medium-sized and smaller companies continued to outperform, with the FTSE Small
Cap Index rising by 10.8%, the FTSE Mid 250 Index by 9.7% and the FTSE 100 Index
by 3.1% in capital terms. However, in contrast to last month, the FTSE 350
Higher Yield Index outperformed the Lower Yield Index by 1.5% in capital terms.

The best performing sectors over the month were Household Goods & Textiles and
the 'TMT' areas of Software, IT Hardware, Media and Telecoms. 'Cyclical' areas
such as Engineering and Forestry & Paper also outperformed, as did Insurance and
Real Estate. The worst performing sectors were the 'defensive' areas of Food
Producers, Beverages, Pharmaceuticals and Utilities.

Major transactions during the period included adding to the existing holding in
Imperial Tobacco and establishing new holdings in Gallaher and Unilever.
Holdings were sold in HBOS and Rank Group.



OUTLOOK

The sharp rally in equity markets over the last few months has reduced the
available dividend yield from the UK equity market to 3.4%. However, despite the
adverse impact of a weak dollar on many large multi-national companies, we are
detecting a modest recovery in corporate profitability and cash generation which
should ultimately result in better dividend growth. In addition, following the
split decision at the last MPC meeting and the recent announcement by the ECB to
further reduce interest rates by 0.5%, we believe that UK interest rates have
the potential to fall further. This should help entice investors sitting on cash
back into the UK equity market, particularly into shares or funds providing an
attractive level of income.

We continue to construct the portfolio using the most attractive stocks in each
sector. Our principal tool to analyse and value companies remains cash flow
return on investment (CFROI) rather than earnings per share, and we also use
cash flow to predict the sustainability of dividends. This is important given
our commitment to achieve a respectable level of income for shareholders and we
are confident that this investment philosophy will continue to reward
shareholders over the longer term.


                                                                                           31/05/03             30/04/03

NET ASSET VALUE                                                                              205.2p               195.4p

MID-MARKET SHARE PRICE                                                                  31/05/03                30/04/03

Ordinary Shares                                                                           197.5p                  195.0p

Dividend Yield (%)                                                                           3.8                     3.9


LARGEST HOLDINGS (market value £58.9 million equal to 71.9% of total portfolio)

                                                                                         £'000's     % of portfolio
HSBC Holdings                                                                              6,390           7.8

GlaxoSmithKline                                                                            5,405           6.6

BP                                                                                         5,329           6.5

Royal Bank of Scotland                                                                     4,230           5.2

AstraZeneca                                                                                3,799           4.6

Shell Transport and Trading                                                                3,528           4.3

Vodafone Group                                                                             2,627           3.2

BT Group                                                                                   2,419           3.0

Imperial Tobacco                                                                           2,318           2.8

Scottish & Southern Energy                                                                 2,302           2.8

National Grid Transco                                                                      1,641           2.0

Lloyds TSB                                                                                 1,640           2.0

Barclays                                                                                   1,588           1.9

Tate & Lyle                                                                                1,536           1.9

Debenhams                                                                                  1,494           1.8

SIG                                                                                        1,493           1.8

Standard Chartered                                                                         1,466           1.8

Viridian Group                                                                             1,351           1.7

Provident                                                                                  1,348           1.7

Legal & General                                                                            1,336           1.6

GUS                                                                                        1,307           1.6

Gallaher                                                                                   1,149           1.4

BPB                                                                                        1,122           1.4

3i Group                                                                                   1,084           1.3

Bunzl                                                                                        967           1.2


FINNCIAL CALENDAR                                                                                     10 June 2003

Interim accounts posted                                                                               25 June 2003

Interim dividend paid

For further information, contact Graham Ashby at Deutsche Asset Management on
020-7545-6000.

For additional copies, changes of address or details of our Private Investors'
Plan, low cost ISA and Dividend Reinvestment Plan (a plan through which
shareholders, who hold their shares on the Company's main register, can use
their dividends to purchase further shares) contact Mark Pope on 020-7545-0520,
e-mail address: [e-mail]. Further details of Deutsche Equity Income
Trust including the latest annual, interim and monthly reports can be found on
the Deutsche Investment Trust Managers website located at
www.deutsche-its.co.uk.

Issued by Deutsche Equity Income Trust PLC and approved by Deutsche Investment
Trust Managers Limited authorised and, regulated by the Financial Services
Authority and manager of Deutsche Equity Income Trust PLC. Investors should be
aware that past performance is not necessarily a guide to future returns, the
price of shares and the income from them may fall as well as rise and investors
may not get back the amount they invested.


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