PPT Putnam Premier Income Trust

Putnam
Short Duration
Income Fund

Annual report
7 | 31 | 13

Consider these risks before investing: Putnam Short Duration Income Fund is not a money market fund. The effects of inflation may erode the value of your investment over time. Funds that invest in government securities are not guaranteed. Mortgage-backed securities are subject to prepayment risk and the risk that they may increase in value less when interest rates decline and decline in value more when interest rates rise. We may have to invest the proceeds from prepaid investments in other investments with less attractive terms and yields. Bond investments are subject to interest-rate risk (the risk of bond prices falling if interest rates rise) and credit risk (the risk of an issuer defaulting on interest or principal payments). Interest-rate risk is greater for longer-term bonds, and credit risk is greater for below-investment-grade bonds. Risks associated with derivatives include increased investment exposure (which may be considered leverage) and, in the case of over-the-counter instruments, the potential inability to terminate or sell derivatives positions and the potential failure of the other party to the instrument to meet its obligations. Unlike bonds, funds that invest in bonds have fees and expenses. Bond prices may fall or fail to rise over time for several reasons, including general financial market conditions and factors related to a specific issuer or industry. You can lose money by investing in the fund.

Message from the Trustees

Dear Fellow Shareholder:

At the midpoint of 2013, U.S. equity market indexes were near record highs, and the overarching theme of the domestic economy appeared to be one of slow healing. Equity investors were encouraged by improving housing and jobs data, as well as by solid corporate earnings. In Europe, the worst of the financial crisis appears to have passed, with some economic forecasts predicting that the eurozone will return to positive growth later this year. Meanwhile, thanks to its government’s massive stimulus initiatives, Japan recently has experienced stronger economic growth after years of stagnation.

A primary question confronting markets is how the U.S. central bank will gradually reduce its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program without derailing the fragile economic recovery. Investors have reacted positively to public reassurances by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the central bank would not draw down stimulus until the economy finds itself on firm footing.

We cannot predict the pace at which economies will recover, nor can we forecast the full impact of the Fed’s tapering decisions. However, we believe that Putnam’s in-depth fundamental research, active investing, and risk management strategies can serve investors well through changing markets. Putnam’s investment professionals integrate innovative thinking with traditional and alternative approaches to address a diverse range of financial goals.

We also believe that investing in any market environment is most effective when combined with the guidance of a professional advisor who can help you develop a financial plan suited to your goals and risk tolerance.

We would like to welcome new shareholders of the fund and to thank you for investing with Putnam. We would also like to extend our thanks to Elizabeth Kennan, who recently retired from the Board of Trustees, for her 20 years of dedicated service.

Current performance may be lower or higher than the quoted past performance, which cannot guarantee future results. Share price, principal value, and return will fluctuate, and you may have a gain or a loss when you sell your shares. Performance of class A shares assumes reinvestment of distributions and does not account for taxes a shareholder may owe on fund distributions or on the redemption of fund shares. See pages 5 and 10–11 for additional performance information. The fund had expense limitations during the period, without which returns would have been lower.

Interview with your fund’s portfolio managers

Joanne, what was the short - term bond market environment like during the 12 months ended July 31, 2013?

From the summer of 2012 into the spring of 2013, the market environment was favorable, buoyed by an improving economic backdrop and the tailwind of increased global liquidity that resulted from accommodative monetary policy in the United States and overseas. Within this environment, many financial institutions — whose securities comprise a substantial portion of the portfolio — significantly repaired their balance sheets and generally recovered from the 2007–2008 liquidity crisis and subsequent recession.

In May, however, the market backdrop became less hospitable, as concern about higher interest rates weighed on sentiment, leading investors to take profits. The debate that began in May regarding when the Federal Reserve would begin tapering its bond-buying program intensified in June, when Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that the central bank could begin scaling back its stimulus program later in 2013, and end it by mid 2014, sooner than investors expected. During this time, interest rates rose and yield curves steepened globally. In July, the Fed clarified its stance, stating that monetary policy would remain highly accommodative until the economy was back on its feet. In response, investors breathed a sigh of relief and interest rates declined modestly.

Given the changing market backdrop, including increased volatility during May and June, I am pleased to report that the fund at net asset

This comparison shows your fund’s performance in the context of broad market indexes for the 12 months ended 7/31/13. See pages 4 and 10–11 for additional fund performance information. Index descriptions can be found on pages 14–15.

value [NAV] outpaced both its benchmark and the average return of its Lipper peer group.

How would you summarize the fund’s investment strategy?

Joanne: We like to describe the fund as targeting the space between money market and short-term bond funds. Because the fund is not a money market fund or subject to the Rule 2a-7 regulations that govern money market funds, we can pursue a range of income opportunities that are not available to money market funds. Of course, that wider range of opportunities potentially includes a greater number of risks, but our goal is to manage the fund so that its performance is consistent with our objectives of preserving capital and maintaining liquidity. In doing so, we seek to outperform U.S. Treasury bills by 0.20% to 0.60% at NAV, while working to maintain an NAV that is less volatile than that of many competing funds.

From a risk-management perspective, we seek to limit the fund’s sensitivity to interest-rate movements by generally keeping the portfolio’s duration at or less than one year. We seek to control the fund’s credit risk by only investing in investment-grade securities and limiting its exposure to individual issuers. Lastly, we utilize high-quality commercial paper and other money-market-eligible securities for liquidity purposes and as a temporary repository for cash that will be invested in short-term bonds.

Turning to you, Mike, how was the fund positioned during the period?

We continued to target opportunities in securities with slightly longer maturities — up to three years — or marginally lower credit

Allocations are shown as a percentage of the fund’s net assets as of 7/31/13. Cash and net other assets, if any, represent the market value weights of cash, derivatives, short-term securities, and other unclassified assets in the portfolio. Summary information may differ from the portfolio schedule included in the financial statements due to the inclusion of derivative securities, any interest accruals, the exclusion of as-of trades, if any, and the use of different classifications of securities for presentation purposes. Holdings and allocations may vary over time.

quality — generally A-rated and BBB-rated bonds. We sought to mitigate these risks by counterbalancing them. Specifically, the BBB-rated securities that we owned — which provided the fund with higher yields, given their greater credit risk — were generally shorter-maturity bonds, so they entailed relatively little interest-rate risk. Likewise, the higher-rated securities in the portfolio typically carried somewhat longer maturities. This balanced approach allowed us to add incremental income potential without significantly increasing the portfolio’s risk profile.

In terms of sector positioning, at period-end nearly 60% of the portfolio was allocated to corporate bonds issued by financial institutions, with roughly half of this allocation in A-rated bonds. We continued to favor bonds from banks and other types of financial companies because we believe they offered better relative value than securities in other corporate-bond categories. In contrast to certain other areas of the corporate bond market, we believe the credit quality of financial institutions is improving. In our view, risk in the financials sector will continue to fall as regulatory pressure and rule changes force banks to streamline operations and further improve their balance sheets. We remained focused on bonds issued by large, diversified, domestically based institutions that, in our estimation, have demonstrated the greatest progress in increasing their liquidity and capital

Credit qualities are shown as a percentage of the fund’s net assets as of 7/31/13. A bond rated Baa or higher (Prime-3/VMIG3 or higher, for short-term debt) is considered investment grade. The chart reflects Moody’s ratings; percentages may include bonds or derivatives not rated by Moody’s but rated by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) or, if unrated by S&P, by Fitch ratings, and then included in the closest equivalent Moody’s rating. Ratings may vary over time.

Credit quality includes bonds and represents only the fixed-income portion of the portfolio. Cash and net other assets, if any, represent the market value weights of cash, derivatives, short-term securities, and other unclassified assets in the portfolio. The fund itself has not been rated by an independent rating agency.

positions, and these securities performed well during the period.

You had less than 10% of the portfolio invested in securitized sectors, such as collateralized mortgage obligations [CMOs], commercial mortgage - backed securities, and asset - backed securities. Why wasn’t more of the fund allocated to these areas?

Michael: Given that one of our key objectives in managing the fund is to keep its NAV relatively stable, we tend not to invest significantly in these areas because the degree of extension risk, primarily with mortgage-backed securities, is inconsistent with this objective. To explain further, extension risk is the risk of a security’s duration lengthening due to a deceleration in prepayments, which typically occurs when interest rates are rising. As rates rise, the likelihood of prepayment decreases as mortgage holders become less likely to refinance. A material decline in refinancing activity can hamper the performance of CMOs and other mortgage-related securities.

What is your outlook for the coming months, and how are you positioning the fund?

Joanne: In our view, the Fed has concluded that the economy is in a much healthier state than when the latest round of quantitative easing began, and that if this pace of improvement continues, it would be prudent to begin drawing the program to a close. We expect the Fed to discuss the time frame for tapering its bond-buying program at its September 2013 meeting. If our forecast proves correct, we believe the central bank may begin to reduce its bond buying in September or October, and will end its purchases roughly six months later. This would conclude a period of monetary expansion and move the Fed to a neutral stance. From that point, we believe that many more months will pass before the Fed begins to increase the federal funds rate.

This chart shows how the fund’s top weightings have changed over the past six months. Allocations are shown as a percentage of the fund’s net assets. Cash and net other assets, if any, represent the market value weights of cash, derivatives, short-term securities, and other unclassified assets in the portfolio. Current period summary information may differ from the portfolio schedule included in the financial statements due to the inclusion of derivative securities, any interest accruals, the exclusion of as-of trades, if any, and the use of different classifications of securities for presentation purposes. Holdings and allocations may vary over time.

Against this backdrop, we are positioning the fund for the possibility of higher rates in the future, and plan to continue slowly reducing the portfolio’s duration while increasing its allocation to floating-rate securities. Many of the fund’s floating-rate holdings are linked to the London interbank offered rate [LIBOR], which is the rate at which financial institutions lend reserves to each other on the short-term international interbank market. LIBOR rates tend to be slightly higher than yields on short-term Treasuries or other U.S. government securities, and the yields on securities linked to LIBOR reset, in most cases, monthly or quarterly. We plan to increase the fund’s allocation to floating-rate securities to gain access to these higher yields and heighten its sensitivity to rising rates. At period-end, about 35% of the portfolio was invested in floating-rate bonds.

Thanks for your time and for bringing us up to date.

The views expressed in this report are exclusively those of Putnam Management and are subject to change. They are not meant as investment advice.

Please note that the holdings discussed in this report may not have been held by the fund for the entire period. Portfolio composition is subject to review in accordance with the fund’s investment strategy and may vary in the future. Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to risk.

Portfolio Manager Michael V. Salm is Co-Head of Fixed Income at Putnam. He has a B.A. from Cornell University. Michael joined Putnam in 1997 and has been in the investment industry since 1989.

Portfolio Manager Joanne M. Driscoll has an M.B.A. from the Northeastern College of Business Administration and a B.S. from Westfield State College. A CFA charterholder, Joanne joined Putnam in 1995 and has been in the investment industry since 1992.

In addition to Michael and Joanne, your fund is also managed by Kevin F. Murphy.

IN THE NEWS

Citing a lengthier economic slowdown in emerging-market economies, the deep recession in the eurozone, and the expected tapering of the U.S. Fed’s monetary stimulus, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has downgraded its growth projections for economies world- wide. Economic growth around the world is projected to remain subdued at 3.1% in 2013, the same as it was in 2012, the IMF stated in a mid-year update. Worldwide growth in 2014 will be 3.8%, the IMF predicted. As for the IMF’s regional economic forecasts, growth in the United States is projected to rise from 1.75% in 2013 to 2.75% in 2014. In Japan, growth will average 2% this year, while slowing but remaining positive in 2014. The eurozone economy, however, had a slightly positive second quarter, at 0.3%, according to the European Union’s statistics office, bringing to an end six straight quarters of negative growth. Still, the IMF believes that the 17-nation currency bloc overall will remain mired in recession this year, with negative growth, and in 2014 growth will rise to just below 1%, which is weaker than previously reported.

Your fund’s performance

This section shows your fund’s performance, price, and distribution information for periods ended July 31, 2013, the end of its most recent fiscal year. In accordance with regulatory requirements for mutual funds, we also include performance information as of the most recent calendar quarter-end and expense information taken from the fund’s current prospectus. Performance should always be considered in light of a fund’s investment strategy. Data represent past performance. Past performance does not guarantee future results. More recent returns may be less or more than those shown. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate, and you may have a gain or a loss when you sell your shares. Performance information does not reflect any deduction for taxes a shareholder may owe on fund distributions or on the redemption of fund shares. For the most recent month-end performance, please visit the Individual Investors section at putnam.com or call Putnam at 1-800-225-1581. Class R, class R5, class R6, and class Y shares are not available to all investors. See the Terms and Definitions section in this report for definitions of the share classes offered by your fund.

Fund performance Total return for periods ended 7/31/13

Current performance may be lower or higher than the quoted past performance, which cannot guarantee future results. None of the share classes generally carry an initial sales charge or a contingent deferred sales charge. Performance for class R5 and class R6 shares before their inception is derived from the historical performance of class Y shares.

For a portion of the periods, the fund had expense limitations, without which returns would have been lower.

Comparative index returns For periods ended 7/31/13

Index and Lipper results should be compared with fund performance before sales charge, before CDSC, or at net asset value.

* Over the 1-year and life-of-fund periods ended 7/31/13, there were 98 and 88 funds, respectively, in this Lipper category.

Past performance does not indicate future results. At the end of the same time period, a $10,000 investment in the fund’s class B, C, M, R, R5, R6, and Y shares would have been valued at $10,047, $10,047, $10,102, $10,047, $10,147, $10,147, and $10,147, respectively.

Fund price and distribution information For the 12-month period ended 7/31/13

The classification of distributions, if any, is an estimate. Final distribution information will appear on your year-end tax forms.

Fund performance as of most recent calendar quarter
Total return for periods ended 6/30/13

See the discussion following the fund performance table on page 10 for information about the calculation of fund performance.

Your fund’s expenses

As a mutual fund investor, you pay ongoing expenses, such as management fees, distribution fees (12b-1 fees), and other expenses. In the most recent six-month period, your fund’s expenses were limited; had expenses not been limited, they would have been higher. Using the following information, you can estimate how these expenses affect your investment and compare them with the expenses of other funds. You may also pay one-time transaction expenses, including sales charges (loads) and redemption fees, which are not shown in this section and would have resulted in higher total expenses. For more information, see your fund’s prospectus or talk to your financial representative.

Fiscal-year expense information in this table is taken from the most recent prospectus, is subject to change, and may differ from that shown for the annualized expense ratio and in the financial highlights of this report. Expenses are shown as a percentage of average net assets.

* Reflects Putnam Management’s contractual obligation to limit expenses through 11/30/13.

† For the fund’s most recent fiscal half year; may differ from expense ratios based on one-year data in the financial highlights.

‡ Other expenses for class R5 and class R6 shares have been annualized.

* Expenses for each share class are calculated using the fund’s annualized expense ratio for each class, which represents the ongoing expenses as a percentage of average net assets for the six months ended 7/31/13. The expense ratio may differ for each share class.

† Expenses are calculated by multiplying the expense ratio by the average account value for the period; then multiplying the result by the number of days in the period; and then dividing that result by the number of days in the year.

Estimate the expenses you paid

To estimate the ongoing expenses you paid for the six months ended July 31, 2013, use the following calculation method. To find the value of your investment on February 1, 2013, call Putnam at 1-800-225-1581.

Compare expenses using the SEC’s method

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has established guidelines to help investors assess fund expenses. Per these guidelines, the following table shows your fund’s expenses based on a $1,000 investment, assuming a hypothetical 5% annualized return . You can use this information to compare the ongoing expenses (but not transaction expenses or total costs) of investing in the fund with those of other funds. All mutual fund shareholder reports will provide this information to help you make this comparison. Please note that you cannot use this information to estimate your actual ending account balance and expenses paid during the period.

* Expenses for each share class are calculated using the fund’s annualized expense ratio for each class, which represents the ongoing expenses as a percentage of average net assets for the six months ended 7/31/13. The expense ratio may differ for each share class.

† Expenses are calculated by multiplying the expense ratio by the average account value for the period; then multiplying the result by the number of days in the period; and then dividing that result by the number of days in the year.

Terms and definitions

Important terms

Total return shows how the value of the fund’s shares changed over time, assuming you held the shares through the entire period and reinvested all distributions in the fund.

Net asset value (NAV) is the price, or value, of one share of a mutual fund, without a sales charge. Net asset values fluctuate with market conditions, and are calculated by dividing the net assets of each class of shares by the number of outstanding shares in the class.

Contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC) is generally a charge applied at the time of the redemption of class B or C shares and assumes redemption at the end of the period. Your fund’s class B CDSC declines over time from a 5% maximum during the first year to 1% during the sixth year. After the sixth year, the CDSC no longer applies. The CDSC for class C shares is 1% for one year after purchase.

Share classes

Class A shares are not subject to an initial sales charge or a CDSC, except that a CDSC may apply to certain redemptions of class A shares obtained by exchanging shares from another Putnam fund that were originally purchased without an initial sales charge if the shares are redeemed within nine months of the original purchase. Exchange of your fund’s class A shares into another Putnam fund may involve an initial sales charge.

Class B shares are not subject to an initial sales charge. They may be subject to a CDSC.

Class C shares are not subject to an initial sales charge or a CDSC, except that a CDSC of 1.00% may apply to class C shares obtained in an exchange for class C shares of another Putnam fund if exchanged within one year of the original purchase date.

Class M shares are not subject to an initial sales charge or a CDSC, except that a CDSC may apply to class M shares that were obtained either directly, or by exchanging shares from another Putnam fund that were originally purchased without a sales charge, from certain rollover accounts if redeemed within one year of purchase. Exchange of your fund’s class M shares into another Putnam fund may involve an initial sales charge.

Class R shares are not subject to an initial sales charge or CDSC and are available only to certain defined contribution plans.

Class R5 shares and class R6 shares are not subject to an initial sales charge or CDSC, and carry no 12b-1 fee. They are only available to certain defined contribution plans with assets of at least $50 million.

Class Y shares are not subject to an initial sales charge or CDSC, and carry no 12b-1 fee. They are generally only available to corporate and institutional clients and clients in other approved programs.

Fixed-income terms

Current rate is the annual rate of return earned from dividends or interest of an investment. Current rate is expressed as a percentage of the price of a security, fund share, or principal investment.

Yield curve is a graph that plots the yields of bonds with equal credit quality against their differing maturity dates, ranging from shortest to longest. It is used as a benchmark for other debt, such as mortgage or bank lending rates.

Comparative indexes Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is an unmanaged index of U.S. investment-grade fixed-income securities.

BofA Merrill Lynch U.S. Treasury Bill Index tracks the performance of U.S. dollar denominated U.S. Treasury bills, which represent obligations of the U.S. Government having a maturity of one year or less, and is intended as an approximate measure of the rate of inflation.

S&P 500 Index is an unmanaged index of common stock performance.

Indexes assume reinvestment of all distributions and do not account for fees. Securities and performance of a fund and an index will differ. You cannot invest directly in an index.

Lipper is a third-party industry-ranking entity that ranks mutual funds. Its rankings do not reflect sales charges. Lipper rankings are based on total return at net asset value relative to other funds that have similar current investment styles or objectives as determined by Lipper. Lipper may change a fund’s category assignment at its discretion. Lipper category averages reflect performance trends for funds within a category.

Other information for shareholders

Proxy voting

Putnam is committed to managing our mutual funds in the best interests of our shareholders. The Putnam funds’ proxy voting guidelines and procedures, as well as information regarding how your fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the 12-month period ended June 30, 2013, are available in the Individual Investors section of putnam.com, and on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) website, www.sec.gov. If you have questions about finding forms on the SEC’s website, you may call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. You may also obtain the Putnam funds’ proxy voting guidelines and procedures at no charge by calling Putnam’s Shareholder Services at 1-800-225-1581.

Fund portfolio holdings

The fund will file a complete schedule of its portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-Q. Shareholders may obtain the fund’s Forms N-Q on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, the fund’s Forms N-Q may be reviewed and copied at the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. You may call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for information about the SEC’s website or the operation of the Public Reference Room.

Trustee and employee fund ownership

Putnam employees and members of the Board of Trustees place their faith, confidence, and, most importantly, investment dollars in Putnam mutual funds. As of July 31, 2013, Putnam employees had approximately $394,000,000 and the Trustees had approximately $94,000,000 invested in Putnam mutual funds. These amounts include investments by the Trustees’ and employees’ immediate family members as well as investments through retirement and deferred compensation plans.

Important notice regarding Putnam’s privacy policy

In order to conduct business with our shareholders, we must obtain certain personal information such as account holders’ names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth. Using this information, we are able to maintain accurate records of accounts and transactions.

It is our policy to protect the confidentiality of our shareholder information, whether or not a shareholder currently owns shares of our funds. In particular, it is our policy not to sell information about you or your accounts to outside marketing firms. We have safeguards in place designed to prevent unauthorized access to our computer systems and procedures to protect personal information from unauthorized use.

Under certain circumstances, we must share account information with outside vendors who provide services to us, such as mailings and proxy solicitations. In these cases, the service providers enter into confidentiality agreements with us, and we provide only the information necessary to process transactions and perform other services related to your account. Finally, it is our policy to share account information with your financial representative, if you’ve listed one on your Putnam account.

Trustee approval of management contract

General conclusions

The Board of Trustees of the Putnam funds oversees the management of each fund and, as required by law, determines annually whether to approve the continuance of your fund’s management contract with Putnam Investment Management (“Putnam Management”) and the sub-management contract with respect to your fund between Putnam Management and its affiliate, Putnam Investments Limited (“PIL”). The Board of Trustees, with the assistance of its Contract Committee, requests and evaluates all information it deems reasonably necessary under the circumstances in connection with its annual contract review. The Contract Committee consists solely of Trustees who are not “interested persons” (as this term is defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”)) of the Putnam funds (“Independent Trustees”).

At the outset of the review process, members of the Board’s independent staff and independent legal counsel met with representatives of Putnam Management to review the annual contract review materials furnished to the Contract Committee during the course of the previous year’s review and to discuss possible changes in these materials that might be necessary or desirable for the coming year. Following these discussions and in consultation with the Contract Committee, the Independent Trustees’ independent legal counsel requested that Putnam Management furnish specified information, together with any additional information that Putnam Management considered relevant, to the Contract Committee. Over the course of several months ending in June 2013, the Contract Committee met on a number of occasions with representatives of Putnam Management, and separately in executive session, to consider the information that Putnam Management provided. Throughout this process, the Contract Committee was assisted by the members of the Board’s independent staff and by independent legal counsel for the Putnam funds and the Independent Trustees.

In May 2013, the Contract Committee met in executive session to discuss and consider its preliminary recommendations with respect to the continuance of the contracts. At the Trustees’ June 20, 2013 meeting, the Contract Committee met in executive session with the other Independent Trustees to review a summary of the key financial data that the Contract Committee considered in the course of its review. The Contract Committee then presented its written report, which summarized the key factors that the Committee had considered and set forth its final recommendations. The Contract Committee then recommended, and the Independent Trustees approved, the continuance of your fund’s management and sub-management contracts, effective July 1, 2013, subject to certain changes in these contracts noted below. (Because PIL is an affiliate of Putnam Management and Putnam Management remains fully responsible for all services provided by PIL, the Trustees have not evaluated PIL as a separate entity, and all subsequent references to Putnam Management below should be deemed to include reference to PIL as necessary or appropriate in the context.)

The Independent Trustees’ approval was based on the following conclusions:

• That the fee schedule in effect for your fund represented reasonable compensation in light of the nature and quality of the services being provided to the fund, the fees paid by competitive funds, and the costs incurred by Putnam Management in providing services to the fund, and

• That the fee schedule represented an appropriate sharing between fund shareholders and Putnam Management of such economies of

scale as may exist in the management of the fund at current asset levels.

These conclusions were based on a comprehensive consideration of all information provided to the Trustees and were not the result of any single factor. Some of the factors that figured particularly in the Trustees’ deliberations and how the Trustees considered these factors are described below, although individual Trustees may have evaluated the information presented differently, giving different weights to various factors. It is also important to recognize that the management arrangements for your fund and the other Putnam funds are the result of many years of review and discussion between the Independent Trustees and Putnam Management, that some aspects of the arrangements may receive greater scrutiny in some years than others, and that the Trustees’ conclusions may be based, in part, on their consideration of fee arrangements in previous years. For example, with some minor exceptions, the current fee arrangements in the management contracts for the Putnam funds were implemented at the beginning of 2010 following extensive review and discussion by the Trustees, as well as approval by shareholders.

As noted above, the Trustees considered certain changes to the management contracts of all funds that are organized as series of Putnam Funds Trust, including your fund, that were proposed by Putnam Management in an attempt to consolidate the contracts of these funds into three separate contracts based on the structure of each fund’s management fee. The Independent Trustees’ approval of these consolidated management contracts was based on their conclusion that the changes were purely for administrative convenience and would not result in any substantive change to the terms of a fund’s existing management contract with Putnam Management or any reduction in the nature and quality of services provided to your fund.

The Trustees also considered certain administrative revisions to your fund’s sub-management contract. Putnam Management recommended that the sub-management contract be revised to reduce the sub-management fee that Putnam Management pays to PIL from 40 basis points to 25 basis points with respect to the portion of the portfolios of certain funds, including your fund, that may be allocated to PIL from time to time. These revisions had no effect on the management fees paid by your fund to Putnam Management. The Independent Trustees’ approval of this recommendation was based on their conclusion that these changes would have no practical effect on Putnam Management’s continued responsibility for the management of these funds or the costs borne by fund shareholders and would not result in any reduction in the nature and quality of services provided to the funds.

Management fee schedules and total expenses

The Trustees reviewed the management fee schedules in effect for all Putnam funds, including fee levels and breakpoints. The Trustees also reviewed the total expenses of each Putnam fund, recognizing that in most cases management fees represented the major, but not the sole, determinant of total costs to shareholders.

In reviewing fees and expenses, the Trustees generally focus their attention on material changes in circumstances — for example, changes in assets under management, changes in a fund’s investment style, changes in Putnam Management’s operating costs or profitability, or changes in competitive practices in the mutual fund industry — that suggest that consideration of fee changes might be warranted. The Trustees concluded that the circumstances did not warrant changes to the management fee structure of your fund.

Under its management contract, your fund has the benefit of breakpoints in its management

fee schedule that provide shareholders with economies of scale in the form of reduced fee levels as assets under management in the Putnam family of funds increase. The Trustees concluded that the fee schedule in effect for your fund represented an appropriate sharing of economies of scale between fund shareholders and Putnam Management.

As in the past, the Trustees also focused on the competitiveness of each fund’s total expense ratio. In order to ensure that expenses of the Putnam funds continue to meet competitive standards, the Trustees and Putnam Management have implemented certain expense limitations. These expense limitations were: (i) a contractual expense limitation applicable to all retail open-end funds of 32 basis points on investor servicing fees and expenses and (ii) a contractual expense limitation applicable to all open-end funds of 20 basis points on so-called “other expenses” (i.e., all expenses exclusive of management fees, investor servicing fees, distribution fees, investment-related expenses, interest, taxes, brokerage commissions, extraordinary expenses and acquired fund fees and expenses). These expense limitations serve in particular to maintain competitive expense levels for funds with large numbers of small shareholder accounts and funds with relatively small net assets. Most funds had sufficiently low expenses that these expense limitations did not apply. However, in the case of your fund, the second of the expense limitations applied during its fiscal year ending in 2012. In addition, Putnam Management agreed to waive fees (and, to the extent necessary, bear other expenses) through at least November 30, 2014 to the extent that the expenses of your fund (excluding brokerage, interest, taxes, investment-related expenses, extraordinary expenses, payments under the fund’s distribution plans, and acquired fund fees and expenses, but including payments under the fund’s investor servicing and investment management contracts) would exceed an annual rate of 0.30% of the fund’s average net assets. Putnam Management’s support for these expense limitations was an important factor in the Trustees’ decision to approve the continuance of your fund’s management and sub-management contracts.

The Trustees reviewed comparative fee and expense information for a custom group of competitive funds selected by Lipper Inc. This comparative information included your fund’s percentile ranking for effective management fees and total expenses (excluding any applicable 12b-1 fee), which provides a general indication of your fund’s relative standing. In the custom peer group, your fund ranked in the 2nd quintile in effective management fees (determined for your fund and the other funds in the custom peer group based on fund asset size and the applicable contractual management fee schedule) and in the 1st quintile in total expenses (excluding any applicable 12b-1 fees) as of December 31, 2012 (the first quintile representing the least expensive funds and the fifth quintile the most expensive funds). The fee and expense data reported by Lipper as of December 31, 2012 reflected the most recent fiscal year-end data available in Lipper’s database at that time.

In connection with their review of the management fees and total expenses of the Putnam funds, the Trustees also reviewed the costs of the services provided and the profits realized by Putnam Management and its affiliates from their contractual relationships with the funds. This information included trends in revenues, expenses and profitability of Putnam Management and its affiliates relating to the investment management, investor servicing and distribution services provided to the funds. In this regard, the Trustees also reviewed an analysis of Putnam Management’s revenues, expenses and profitability, allocated on a fund-by-fund basis, with respect to the funds’ management, distribution, and investor servicing contracts.

For each fund, the analysis presented information about revenues, expenses and profitability for each of the agreements separately and for the agreements taken together on a combined basis. The Trustees concluded that, at current asset levels, the fee schedules in place represented reasonable compensation for the services being provided and represented an appropriate sharing of such economies of scale as may exist in the management of the Putnam funds at that time.

The information examined by the Trustees as part of their annual contract review for the Putnam funds has included for many years information regarding fees charged by Putnam Management and its affiliates to institutional clients such as defined benefit pension plans, college endowments, and the like. This information included comparisons of those fees with fees charged to the funds, as well as an assessment of the differences in the services provided to these different types of clients. The Trustees observed that the differences in fee rates between institutional clients and mutual funds are by no means uniform when examined by individual asset sectors, suggesting that differences in the pricing of investment management services to these types of clients may reflect historical competitive forces operating in separate markets. The Trustees considered the fact that in many cases fee rates across different asset classes are higher on average for mutual funds than for institutional clients, as well as the differences between the services that Putnam Management provides to the Putnam funds and those that it provides to its institutional clients. The Trustees did not rely on these comparisons to any significant extent in concluding that the management fees paid by your fund are reasonable.

Investment performance

The quality of the investment process provided by Putnam Management represented a major factor in the Trustees’ evaluation of the quality of services provided by Putnam Management under your fund’s management contract. The Trustees were assisted in their review of the Putnam funds’ investment process and performance by the work of the investment oversight committees of the Trustees, which meet on a regular basis with the funds’ portfolio teams and with the Chief Investment Officer and other senior members of Putnam Management’s Investment Division throughout the year. The Trustees concluded that Putnam Management generally provides a high-quality investment process — based on the experience and skills of the individuals assigned to the management of fund portfolios, the resources made available to them, and in general Putnam Management’s ability to attract and retain high-quality personnel — but also recognized that this does not guarantee favorable investment results for every fund in every time period.

The Trustees considered that 2012 was a year of strong competitive performance for many of the Putnam funds, with only a relatively small number of exceptions. They noted that this strong performance was exemplified by the fact that the Putnam funds were recognized by Barron’s as the best performing mutual fund complex for 2012—the second time in four years that Putnam Management has achieved this distinction for the Putnam funds. They also noted, however, the disappointing investment performance of some funds for periods ended December 31, 2012 and considered information provided by Putnam Management regarding the factors contributing to the underperformance and actions being taken to improve the performance of these particular funds. The Trustees indicated their intention to continue to monitor performance trends to assess the effectiveness of these efforts and to evaluate whether additional actions to address areas of underperformance are warranted.

For purposes of evaluating investment performance, the Trustees generally focus on

competitive industry rankings for the one-year, three-year, and five-year periods. For a number of Putnam funds with relatively unique investment mandates, the Trustees evaluated performance based on comparisons of their absolute gross returns with the returns of selected investment benchmarks or targeted annualized returns. In the case of your fund, the Trustees considered that its class A share cumulative total return performance at net asset value was in the 3rd quartile of its Lipper Inc. peer group (Lipper Ultra-Short Obligations Funds) for the one-year period ended December 31, 2012 (the first quartile representing the best-performing funds and the fourth quartile the worst-performing funds). Over the one-year period ended December 31, 2012, there were 88 funds in your fund’s Lipper peer group. Because your fund had only commenced operations on November 17, 2011, the Trustees considered that there had not been a sufficiently long period of time to allow for definitive conclusions about the fund’s performance. (When considering performance information, shareholders should be mindful that past performance is not a guarantee of future results.)

The Trustees also considered a number of other changes that Putnam Management had made in recent years in efforts to support and improve fund performance generally. In particular, the Trustees recognized that Putnam Management has adjusted the compensation structure for portfolio managers and research analysts so that only those who achieve top-quartile returns over a rolling three-year basis are eligible for full bonuses.

Brokerage and soft-dollar allocations; investor servicing

The Trustees considered various potential benefits that Putnam Management may receive in connection with the services it provides under the management contract with your fund. These include benefits related to brokerage allocation and the use of soft dollars, whereby a portion of the commissions paid by a fund for brokerage may be used to acquire research services that are expected to be useful to Putnam Management in managing the assets of the fund and of other clients. Subject to policies established by the Trustees, soft dollars generated by these means are used primarily to acquire brokerage and research services that enhance Putnam Management’s investment capabilities and supplement Putnam Management’s internal research efforts. However, the Trustees noted that a portion of available soft dollars continues to be used to pay fund expenses. The Trustees indicated their continued intent to monitor regulatory and industry developments in this area with the assistance of their Brokerage Committee and also indicated their continued intent to monitor the allocation of the Putnam funds’ brokerage in order to ensure that the principle of seeking best price and execution remains paramount in the portfolio trading process.

Putnam Management may also receive benefits from payments that the funds make to Putnam Management’s affiliates for investor or distribution services. In conjunction with the annual review of your fund’s management and sub-management contracts, the Trustees reviewed your fund’s investor servicing agreement with Putnam Investor Services, Inc. (“PSERV”) and its distributor’s contracts and distribution plans with Putnam Retail Management Limited Partnership (“PRM”), both of which are affiliates of Putnam Management. The Trustees concluded that the fees payable by the funds to PSERV and PRM, as applicable, for such services are reasonable in relation to the nature and quality of such services, the fees paid by competitive funds, and the costs incurred by PSERV and PRM, as applicable, in providing such services.

Financial statements

These sections of the report, as well as the accompanying Notes, preceded by the Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm, constitute the fund’s financial statements.

The fund’s portfolio lists all the fund’s investments and their values as of the last day of the reporting period. Holdings are organized by asset type and industry sector, country, or state to show areas of concentration and diversification.

Statement of assets and liabilities shows how the fund’s net assets and share price are determined. All investment and non-investment assets are added together. Any unpaid expenses and other liabilities are subtracted from this total. The result is divided by the number of shares to determine the net asset value per share, which is calculated separately for each class of shares. (For funds with preferred shares, the amount subtracted from total assets includes the liquidation preference of preferred shares.)

Statement of operations shows the fund’s net investment gain or loss. This is done by first adding up all the fund’s earnings — from dividends and interest income — and subtracting its operating expenses to determine net investment income (or loss). Then, any net gain or loss the fund realized on the sales of its holdings — as well as any unrealized gains or losses over the period — is added to or subtracted from the net investment result to determine the fund’s net gain or loss for the fiscal year.

Statement of changes in net assets shows how the fund’s net assets were affected by the fund’s net investment gain or loss, by distributions to shareholders, and by changes in the number of the fund’s shares. It lists distributions and their sources (net investment income or realized capital gains) over the current reporting period and the most recent fiscal year-end. The distributions listed here may not match the sources listed in the Statement of operations because the distributions are determined on a tax basis and may be paid in a different period from the one in which they were earned.

Financial highlights provide an overview of the fund’s investment results, per-share distributions, expense ratios, net investment income ratios, and portfolio turnover in one summary table, reflecting the five most recent reporting periods. In a semiannual report, the highlights table also includes the current reporting period.

The fund’s portfolio 7/31/13