Trading Update

Martin Currie High Income Trust PLC
20 March 2002


To:        Stock Exchange
           For immediate release:

           20 March 2002


Martin Currie High Income Trust plc

On 25 February 2002, the company announced its interim results for the six
months to 31 January 2002. Due, inter alia, to the company's highly geared
capital structure, the general decline in stockmarkets and the specific
difficulties of the split capital investment sector in which the company holds
investments, and the company's accounting policy of charging a significant
proportion of its interest charges and management expenses to capital, the
company announced both a reduction in its dividend and a revision to its banking
arrangements.

Since that announcement, although the overall UK stockmarket has remained
relatively stable, the situation in the split capital sector has deteriorated
further. The following table summarises the allocation of the company's assets
at the end of its last financial year, at the interim stage, and more recently:



(£)                    31 July 2001         31 January 2002      19 March 2002

Equities                 22,860,050               8,398,687          5,090,379

Fixed interest            8,982,574                       -                  -

Income shares            16,796,243               7,241,245          3,449,924

Cash                      5,305,636               5,765,019          9,652,819

Debt                     36,400,000              15,400,000         15,400,000


In order to provide cash, first, to repay debt and, then, to deposit in an 
'offset' facility, the company has had to sell its fixed interest and equity
holdings, the market for income shares having become virtually illiquid.
Furthermore, a number of these income shares have either suspended or reduced
their dividends. As a consequence, the company's asset value and earnings
potential have been seriously eroded.



In the light of these developments, the Board has decided upon the following
actions:



As intimated in the interim announcement, the Board has reviewed the allocation
of interest charges and management expenses between revenue and capital, and has
decided, with the agreement of the company's auditors, to allocate 100% of these
costs to revenue, for the whole accounting period.



The direct impact of this change is that the company does not expect to be in a
position to pay any further dividends in this financial year and has suspended
the payment of the second quarterly dividend of 1.20p per share, declared at the
time of the announcement of the interim results.



The Directors are reviewing all costs and anticipate a number of savings in the
general expenses of running the company. Martin Currie Investment Management
Ltd. has agreed to base its investment management fee on the market value of
assets, reduced by liabilities, in accordance with a recommendation made on 7
March 2002 by the Association of Investment Trust Companies. In addition,
directors' fees will be reduced with immediate effect, and other expenses will
be reviewed with a view to making savings.





Following discussion with the Bank of Scotland, the company has repaid £8.1m of
its remaining loan facility of £15.4m, from cash reserves. This has incurred a
penalty of approximately £395,000. The Bank has indicated that it will not be
seeking immediate repayment of the outstanding balance of the loan but, in
conjunction with the Board, will continue to monitor the company's progress on a
regular basis.





For further information, please contact:

Mike Woodward, Martin Currie Investment Management Ltd.
0131-229-5252
[e-mail]



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