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FRANKLIN EQUITY INCOME FUND
Franklin Equity Income Fund
Investment Goal

To maximize total return by emphasizing high current income and long-term capital appreciation, consistent with reasonable risk.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

These tables describe the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts in Class A if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Franklin Templeton funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and under “Your Account” on page 87 in the Fund's Prospectus and under “Buying and Selling Shares” on page 84 of the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information. In addition, more information about sales charge discounts and waivers for purchases of shares through specific financial intermediaries is set forth in Appendix A - "Intermediary Sales Charge Discounts and Waivers" to the Fund's prospectus.

Please note that the tables and examples below do not reflect any transaction fees that may be charged by financial intermediaries, or commissions that a shareholder may be required to pay directly to its financial intermediary when buying or selling Class R6 or Advisor Class shares.

Shareholder Fees
Shareholder Fees - FRANKLIN EQUITY INCOME FUND
Class A
Class C
Class R
Class R6
Advisor Class
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of Offering Price) 5.50% none none none none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (as a percentage of Offering Price) none [1] 1.00% none none none
[1]

There is a 1% contingent deferred sales charge that applies to investments of $1 Million or more (see "Investment of $1 Million or More" under "Choosing a Share Class") and purchases by certain retirement plans without an initial sales charge on shares sold within 18 months of purchase.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - FRANKLIN EQUITY INCOME FUND
Class A
Class C
Class R
Class R6
Advisor Class
Management fees 0.46% 0.46% 0.46% 0.46% 0.46%
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees 0.25% 1.00% 0.50% none none
Other expenses 0.14% 0.14% 0.14% 0.06% 0.14%
Total annual Fund operating expenses 0.85% 1.60% 1.10% 0.52% 0.60%
Fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement [1] none none none (0.01%) none
Total annual Fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement [1] 0.85% 1.60% 1.10% 0.51% 0.60%
[1] The transfer agent has contractually agreed to cap transfer agency fees for Class R6 shares for the Fund so that transfer agency fees for that class do not exceed 0.03% until February 28, 2023. During this term, this fee waiver and expense reimbursement agreement may not be terminated or amended without approval of the board of trustees except to add series and classes, to reflect the extension of termination dates or to lower the fee waiver and expense limitation.
Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. The Example reflects adjustments made to the Fund's operating expenses due to the fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements by management for the 1 Year numbers only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example - FRANKLIN EQUITY INCOME FUND - USD ($)
Class A
Class C
Class R
Class R6
Advisor Class
1 Year $ 632 $ 263 $ 112 $ 52 $ 61
3 Years 806 505 350 166 192
5 Years 995 871 607 290 335
10 Years $ 1,541 $ 1,699 $ 1,341 $ 651 $ 750
If you do not sell your shares:
Expense Example, No Redemption
FRANKLIN EQUITY INCOME FUND
Class C
USD ($)
1 Year $ 163
3 Years 505
5 Years 871
10 Years $ 1,699
Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent

fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 25.49% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities, including securities convertible into common stocks. The Fund generally invests predominantly in common stocks, and the remainder of its assets in other equity-related instruments such as convertible securities and equity-linked notes (ELNs).

While the Fund does not concentrate in any one industry, from time to time, based on economic conditions, it may make significant investments in certain sectors.

The Fund may invest in foreign securities, but does not currently anticipate investing more than 15% of its total assets in securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States.

The Fund’s strategy is to invest in a broadly diversified portfolio of equity securities that the Fund’s investment manager considers to be financially strong, with a focus on "blue chip" companies. The investment manager applies a "bottom-up" approach to investing in individual securities. The investment manager will assess the market price of a company's securities relative to the investment manager's evaluation of the company's long-term earnings, cash flow potential and balance sheet strength. The investment manager also considers a company's price/earnings ratio, return on capital, profit margins and asset value. The Fund’s investment manager considers dividend yield and the opportunity for dividend growth in selecting stocks for the Fund because the investment manager believes that, over time, dividend income can contribute significantly to total return and can be a more consistent source of investment return than capital appreciation.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Mutual fund shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.

The current global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. Efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 have

resulted in global travel restrictions and disruptions of healthcare systems, business operations and supply chains, layoffs, volatility in consumer demand for certain products, defaults and credit ratings downgrades, and other significant economic impacts. The effects of COVID-19 have impacted global economic activity across many industries and may heighten other pre-existing political, social and economic risks, locally or globally. The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is unpredictable and may adversely affect the Fund’s performance.

Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.

Income The Fund's distributions to shareholders may decline when prevailing interest rates fall, when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities it holds or when the Fund realizes a loss upon the sale of a debt security.

Focus To the extent that the Fund focuses on particular countries, regions, industries, sectors or types of investment from time to time, the Fund may be subject to greater risks of adverse developments in such areas of focus than a fund that invests in a wider variety of countries, regions, industries, sectors or investments.

Blend Style Investing  A “blend” strategy results in investments in both value and growth stocks, or in stocks with characteristics of both. If other investors fail to recognize the company's value, or favor investing in faster-growing companies, value stocks may not increase in value as anticipated by the Fund's investment manager or may decline even further. With respect to growth stocks, stock prices reflect projections of future earnings or revenues and can fall dramatically if the company fails to meet those projections.

Equity-Linked Notes (ELNs) ELNs may not perform as expected and could cause the Fund to realize significant losses including its entire principal investment. Other risks include counterparty risk, liquidity risk and imperfect correlation between ELNs and the underlying securities.

Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, including risks related to currency exchange rates and policies, country or government specific issues, less favorable trading practices or regulation and greater price volatility. Certain of these risks also may apply to securities of U.S. companies with significant foreign operations. The risks of investing in foreign securities are typically greater in less developed or emerging market countries.

Convertible Securities Convertible securities are subject to the risks of stocks when the underlying stock price is high relative to the conversion price (because more of the security's value resides in the conversion feature) and debt securities

when the underlying stock price is low relative to the conversion price (because the conversion feature is less valuable). A convertible security is not as sensitive to interest rate changes as a similar non-convertible debt security, and generally has less potential for gain or loss than the underlying stock.

Interest Rate Common stocks with higher dividend yields can be sensitive to interest rate movements: when interest rates rise, the prices of these stocks may tend to fall. The opposite can also be true: the prices of higher yielding stocks may tend to rise when interest rates fall. Interest rate changes can be sudden and unpredictable and are influenced by a number of factors including government policy, monetary policy, inflation expectations, perceptions of risk, and supply and demand of bonds. Increases in interest rates may also have a negative effect on the types of companies in which the Fund normally invests because these companies may find it more difficult to obtain credit to expand, may have more difficulty meeting interest payments or may pay lower dividends due to the higher costs of borrowing.

Credit An issuer of debt securities may fail to make interest payments or repay principal when due, in whole or in part. Changes in an issuer's financial strength or in a security's or government's credit rating may affect a security's value.

Management The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed investment portfolio. The Fund's investment manager applies investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results.

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to year for Class A shares. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or since inception, as applicable, compared with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. You can obtain updated performance information at franklintempleton.com or by calling (800) DIAL BEN/342-5236.

The secondary index in the table below shows how the Fund's performance compares to a group of securities that reflects the broader equity markets universe.

Sales charges are not reflected in the bar chart, and if those charges were included, returns would be less than those shown.

Class A Annual Total Returns
Bar Chart
   

Best Quarter:

2020, Q2

14.19%

Worst Quarter:

2020, Q1

-22.73%

Average Annual Total Returns (figures reflect sales charges) For periods ended December 31, 2021
Average Annual Total Returns - FRANKLIN EQUITY INCOME FUND
Label
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since Inception
[1]
Class A Return before taxes 18.33% 11.64% 11.72%  
Class A | After Taxes on Distributions Return after taxes on distributions 16.39% 10.23% 10.38%  
Class A | After Taxes on Distributions and Sales Return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares 12.16% 8.98% 9.35%  
Class C   23.28% 12.05% 11.51%  
Class R   24.90% 12.64% 12.09%  
Class R6   25.62% 13.30%   11.99%
Advisor Class   25.53% 13.18% 12.64%  
Russell 1000 Value Index Russell 1000 Value Index (index reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 25.16% 11.17% 12.96%  
S&P 500 Index S&P 500 Index (index reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 28.71% 18.48% 16.55%  
[1]

Since inception May 1, 2013.

No one index is representative of the Fund's portfolio.

The figures in the average annual total returns table above reflect the Class A shares maximum front-end sales charge of 5.50%. Prior to September 10, 2018, Class A shares were subject to a maximum front-end sales charge of 5.75%. If the

prior maximum front-end sales charge of 5.75% was reflected, performance for Class A shares in the average annual total returns table would be lower.

The after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. After-tax returns are shown only for Class A and after-tax returns for other classes will vary.