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                       PUTNAM GLOBAL NATURAL RESOURCES FUND
                           PUTNAM HEALTH SCIENCES TRUST
                             PUTNAM HIGH YIELD TRUST
                             PUTNAM INVESTMENT FUNDS

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[PUTNAM INVESTMENTS LOGO]


                     [Photograph of John A. Hill and George Putnam, III]

From the Trustees

Dear Fellow Shareholder:

Over the past several months, Putnam has introduced a number of reforms
to benefit shareholders, including increasing the amount of disclosure
for our funds. Our shareholder reports now include information that
enables you to estimate the amount you paid for ongoing expenses such as
management fees and distribution (12b-1) fees, and that measures
portfolio turnover, the rate at which your fund buys and sells portfolio
securities, which can affect its return and its taxable distributions to
shareholders.  This new information also enables you to compare your
fund's expenses and portfolio turnover rate with those of other similar
funds tracked by Lipper, an independent fund-rating company.  We have
also introduced a risk comparison that illustrates your fund's risk
relative to similar funds as tracked by Morningstar, another independent
fund-rating company.  These comparisons should be valuable to you and
your financial advisor as you make your investment decisions.

We are also pleased to announce that your fund's Trustees have nominated
three new individuals to serve as Trustees of your fund.  All three have
had outstanding careers as leaders in the investment management
industry.  Myra R. Drucker is a Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of
Sarah Lawrence College and serves as Chair of the New York Stock
Exchange (NYSE) Pension Managers Advisory Committee and as a Trustee of
Commonfund, a not-for-profit asset management firm.  Richard B. Worley
is Managing Partner of Permit Capital LLC, an investment management
firm. Both Ms. Drucker and Mr. Worley would be independent trustees
(i.e., trustees who are not "interested persons" of your fund or its
investment adviser).  Charles E. Haldeman, Jr., the third nominee, is
President and Chief Executive Officer of Putnam Investments.  Proxy
voting is now underway to elect the new and existing Trustees of the
Putnam funds, as well as to address other issues specific to individual
funds.  If you have not already returned your proxy, we urge you to do
so.  If you need any assistance, please contact Putnam at 1-800-225-1581
or call your financial advisor.

[Description of fund-specific performance] In the following pages, the
managers describe how market conditions changed during the [reporting
period] and how the fund responded. They also outline their expectations
for the coming months.

Respectfully yours,

[signatures of John A. Hill and George Putnam, III]