XML 11 R2.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.7.0.1
Fund Summary
Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund-15 | Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund
Investment Goal
Long-term capital growth.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
These tables describe the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold 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 30 in the Fund's Prospectus and under “Buying and Selling Shares” on page 48 of the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information.
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Shareholder Fees {- Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund} - Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund-15 - Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund
Class A
Class C
Class R6
Advisor Class
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as percentage of offering price) 5.75% none none none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as percentage of the lower of original purchase price or sale proceeds) none [1] 1.00% none none
[1] There is a 1% contingent deferred sales charge that applies to investments of $1 million or more (see "Investments of $1 Million or More" under "Choosing a Share Class") and purchases by certain retirement plans without an initial sales charge.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Operating Expenses {- Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund} - Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund-15 - Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund
Class A
Class C
Class R6
Advisor Class
Management fees 0.99% 0.99% 0.99% 0.99%
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees 0.24% 1.00% none none
Other expenses 0.63% 0.63% 0.38% 0.63%
Total annual Fund operating expenses 1.86% 2.62% 1.37% 1.62%
Fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement [1] none none (0.03%) none
Total annual Fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement [1] 1.86% 2.62% 1.34% 1.62%
[1] The transfer agent has contractually agreed to cap transfer agency fees for Class R6 shares of the Fund so that transfer agency fees for that class do not exceed 0.01%, until February 28, 2018. Contractual fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement agreements may not be changed or terminated during the time period set forth above.
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 $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. The Example reflects adjustments made to the Fund's operating expenses due to the fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements by management for the 1 Year numbers only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example {- Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund} - Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund-15 - Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund - USD ($)
Class A
Class C
Class R6
Advisor Class
1 year $ 753 $ 365 $ 136 $ 165
3 years 1,126 814 431 511
5 years 1,523 1,390 747 881
10 years $ 2,629 $ 2,954 $ 1,644 $ 1,922
If you do not sell your shares:
Expense Example, No Redemption {- Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund}
Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund-15
Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund
Class C
USD ($)
1 Year $ 265
3 Years 814
5 Years 1,390
10 Years $ 2,954
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 28.19% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in investments of smaller companies located outside the U.S., including emerging markets. The Fund may invest more than 25% of its assets in the securities of issuers located in any one country.

For purposes of this 80% policy, smaller companies are defined as those with market capitalizations that do not exceed $4 billion. However, under normal conditions, when making an initial purchase of securities of a company, the investment manager will only invest in securities of companies with a market capitalization of not more than $2 billion. Once a security qualifies for initial purchase, it continues to qualify for additional purchases as long as it is held by the Fund, provided that the issuer's market capitalization does not exceed $4 billion. In addition, the Fund may continue to hold securities that have grown to have a market capitalization in excess of $4 billion. The result may be that the Fund could hold a significant percentage of its net assets in securities of companies that have market capitalizations in excess of $2 billion. The Fund invests principally in equity securities, primarily common stocks.

When choosing equity investments for the Fund, the investment manager applies a “bottom-up,” value-oriented, long-term approach, focusing on the market price of a company’s securities relative to the investment manager’s evaluation of the company’s long-term earnings, asset value and cash flow potential. The investment manager also considers a company’s price/earnings ratio, profit margins and liquidation value.

The investment manager may consider selling an equity security when it believes the security has become overvalued due to either its price appreciation or changes in the company's fundamentals, or when the investment manager believes another security is a more attractive investment opportunity.

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.

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.

Smaller Companies

Securities issued by smaller companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies, involve substantial risks and should be considered speculative. Such risks may include greater sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, smaller companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.

Foreign Securities

Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, and includes risks associated with: (i) internal and external political and economic developments – e.g., the political, economic and social policies and structures of some foreign countries may be less stable and more volatile than those in the U.S. or some foreign countries may be subject to trading restrictions or economic sanctions; (ii) trading practices – e.g., government supervision and regulation of foreign securities and currency markets, trading systems and brokers may be less than in the U.S.; (iii) availability of information – e.g., foreign issuers may not be subject to the same disclosure, accounting and financial reporting standards and practices as U.S. issuers; (iv) limited markets – e.g., the securities of certain foreign issuers may be less liquid (harder to sell) and more volatile; and (v) currency exchange rate fluctuations and policies. The risks of foreign investments may be greater in developing or emerging market countries.

Regional Focus

Because the Fund may invest at least a significant portion of its assets in companies in a specific region, including Europe, the Fund is subject to greater risks of adverse developments in that region and/or the surrounding regions than a fund that is more broadly diversified geographically. Political, social or economic disruptions in the region, even in countries in which the Fund is not invested, may adversely affect the value of investments held by the Fund. Current political uncertainty surrounding the European Union (EU) and its membership, including the 2016 referendum in which the United Kingdom voted to exit the EU, may increase market volatility. The financial instability of some countries in the EU, including Greece, Italy and Spain, together with the risk of that impacting other more stable countries may increase the economic risk of investing in companies in Europe.

Emerging Market Countries

The Fund’s investments in emerging market countries are subject to all of the risks of foreign investing generally, and have additional heightened risks due to a lack of established legal, political, business and social frameworks to support securities markets, including: delays in settling portfolio securities transactions; currency and capital controls; greater sensitivity to interest rate changes; pervasiveness of corruption and crime; currency exchange rate volatility; and inflation, deflation or currency devaluation.

Value Style Investing

A value stock may not increase in price as anticipated by the investment manager if other investors fail to recognize the company's value and bid up the price, the markets favor faster-growing companies, or the factors that the investment manager believes will increase the price of the security do not occur or do not have the anticipated effect.

Liquidity

From time to time, the trading market for a particular security or type of security or other investments in which the Fund invests may become less liquid or even illiquid. Reduced liquidity will have an adverse impact on the Fund’s ability to sell such securities or other investments when necessary to meet the Fund’s liquidity needs or in response to a specific economic event and will also generally lower the value of a security or other investments. Market prices for such securities or other investments may be volatile.

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.

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:Q2'0941.51%
Worst Quarter:Q4'08-31.09%

Average Annual Total Returns
(figures reflect sales charges)

For the periods ended December 31, 2016

Average Annual Total Returns{- Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund} - Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund-15 - Templeton Foreign Smaller Companies Fund
Past 1 year
Past 5 years
Past 10 years
Since Inception
[1]
Class A | Return Before Taxes (6.58%) 4.28% 0.74%  
Class A | After Taxes on Distributions (6.92%) 4.03% 0.22%  
Class A | After Taxes on Distributions and Sales (3.45%) 3.45% 0.79%  
Class C | Return Before Taxes (2.57%) 4.72% 0.59%  
Class R6 | Return Before Taxes (0.37%)   0.29%
Advisor Class | Return Before Taxes (0.67%) 5.77% 1.59%  
MSCI All Country World ex-US Small Cap Index (index reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 4.29% 8.12% 3.26%  
[1] Since inception May 1, 2013.

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.