THE OAKMARK INTERNATIONAL FUNDReport from David G. Herro |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Oakmark International Fund returned -5% for the quarter ended December 31, 2007, lagging behind the MSCI World ex U.S. Index return of -2%. More importantly, however, since the Fund’s inception in September 1992, it is up 13% per annum, which compares favorably with the MSCI World ex U.S. Index’s return of 9% over the same period.
Impact Players
SK Telecom Co., a South Korean telecommunication service provider, was the Fund’s largest contributor this quarter, returning 26%. The market reacted favorably to SK Telecom’s purchase of 39% of Hanaro Telecom Inc., South Korea’s second largest high-speed Internet service provider. This transaction will provide SK Telecom access to25% of the nation’s Internet users in a market where 9 out of 10 homes have broadband. We sold our position in SK Telecom during the quarter as it approached fair value and used the proceeds to purchase names which provided more upside. Another top contributor was U.K.-based security service provider G4S plc, which returned 19.6% for the quarter. The end of quarter announcement that the company acquired GSL helped boost G4S’s stock price. A majority of the GSL business is in U.K. public sector contracts, an area G4S knows well. Management has identified this area as a focus for acquisitions and has indicated that similar transactions are in the pipeline, which should further benefit performance. Vivendi, a French media conglomerate, returned 9% for the quarter and rounded out the Fund’s top three performers. There are no extraordinary reasons for Vivendi’s positive performance other than it is not economically exposed to cyclical downdrafts.
Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. (“Lotte”), a South Korean beverage manufacturer, experienced a 26.5% price decrease making it the Fund’s worst performer this quarter. Lotte’s price soared during the second quarter due to expectations that the company would be able to re-zone and develop its Kangnam land bank. Unfortunately, shares performed poorly in the fourth quarter as the prospects for re-zoning began to dim. Additionally, the company’s core beverage business continues to suffer from strong competition, increasing raw materials cost, and lack of a new hit product. Another detractor during the quarter was U.K.-based credit and market service provider Experian Group, which declined 25%. Due to the credit and housing market downturn, banks have scaled back their lending practices which have negatively impacted Experian’s business. We were aware of this potential impact to Experian and were able to purchase the valuable business at an attractive price. Signet Group, a U.K.-based jewelry retailer that operates the Kay Jewelers and Jared’s chains in the U.S., also detracted from the Fund, declining 18.6% for the quarter. Signet management indicated poor results for the fourth quarter with November’s like-for-like sales off 7%, the worst like-for-like performance in recent history. With consumers becoming increasingly concerned about the credit crisis and the housing downturn, they are less likely to spend on luxury items such as jewelry. While we do not expect results for Signet to turn around in the near term, we believe the market has over-reacted creating an opportunity to purchase additional shares of a quality business at a discounted value. We maintain our positive long-term outlook for this stock.
Portfolio Composition
In order to take advantage of extreme market volatility during the past quarter, our activity was greater than normal. We sold our positions in Henkel, SK Telecom, Nikko Cordial Corp., Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Givaudan, and Nestle SA because they reached fair value or because better investment opportunities materialized. Four new names were added to the portfolio: Luxottica Group, the leading global manufacturer and retailer of prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses; Nomura Holdings, a Japan-based financial service provider; Canadian National Railway, a Canadian-based railway operator; and Geberit AG, Europe’s largest manufacturer of sanitary systems and piping products.
As mentioned in the International and International Small Cap Funds letter we were underweight sectors that performed favorably in the quarter and overweight those that underperformed, including financials, consumer discretionary, and information technology, which together detracted approximately 4.8% from Fund performance. The Fund also lacked any exposure to energy; one of the quarter’s best performing sectors.
In closing, we would like to thank our shareholders for continuing to support us and our value investing philosophy. Short-term market fluctuations give us the opportunity to invest in quality companies trading at low prices. We are long-term value investors and focus on finding attractive, under-valued foreign companies.
| David G.
Herro, CFA Portfolio Manager oakix@oakmark.com |
|
| December 31, 2007 |
| THE OAKMARK INTERNATIONAL FUND |
International Diversification—December 31, 2007 (Unaudited)

| THE OAKMARK INTERNATIONAL FUND |
Schedule of InvestmentsDecember 31, 2007 (Unaudited)
| Name | Description | Shares
Held |
Market
Value |
| Common Stocks—97.0% | |||
| Advertising—2.8% | |||
| Publicis Groupe (France) | Advertising & Media Services | 5,651,400 | $220,894,853 |
| Apparel Retail—0.4% | |||
| Giordano International, Limited (Hong Kong) |
Pacific Rim Clothing Retailer & Manufacturer | 64,109,300 | $30,751,021 |
| Apparel, Accessories & Luxury Goods—4.0% | |||
| Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA (Switzerland) | Manufacturer and Retailer of Luxury Goods | 2,510,700 | $172,135,701 |
| LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (France) | Diversified Luxury Goods Conglomerate | 986,400 | 119,034,406 |
| Luxottica Group S.p. A (Italy) | Manufacturer and Retailer of Eyeglass Frames and Sunglasses | 718,300 | 22,792,102 |
| 313,962,209 | |||
| Automobile Manufacturers—6.6% | |||
| Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) AG (Germany) | Luxury Automobile Manufacturer | 4,299,000 | $265,729,541 |
| Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Japan) | Automobile & Motorcycle Manufacturer | 3,699,400 | 124,436,023 |
| Daimler AG Registered (Germany) | Automobile Manufacturer | 1,281,400 | 124,372,780 |
| 514,538,344 | |||
| Broadcasting & Cable TV—8.7% | |||
| Societe Television Francaise 1 (France) | Television Production & Broadcasting | 8,322,800 | $222,300,032 |
| Gestevision Telecinco SA (Spain) | Television Production & Broadcasting | 6,860,900 | 175,342,104 |
| British Sky Broadcasting Group plc (United Kingdom) | Television Production & Broadcasting | 11,818,400 | 145,360,765 |
| Grupo Televisa S.A. (Mexico) (b) |
Television Production & Broadcasting | 5,464,200 | $129,884,034 |
| 672,886,935 | |||
| Movies & Entertainment—0.2% | |||
| Vivendi Universal SA (France) | Music, Games, Television, Film, & Telecommunications |
428,200 | $19,611,851 |
| Publishing—2.2% | |||
| Trinity Mirror plc (United Kingdom) |
Newspaper Publishing | 15,461,248 | $107,064,427 |
| Johnston Press plc (United Kingdom) |
Newspaper Publishing | 11,173,130 | 61,052,776 |
| 168,117,203 | |||
| Restaurants—0.2% | |||
| Compass Group PLC (United Kingdom) | International Foodservice Group Operator | 3,135,721 | $19,221,641 |
| Specialty Stores—2.7% | |||
| Signet Group plc (United Kingdom) | Jewelry Retailer | 154,080,300 | $213,544,895 |
| Distillers & Vintners—1.4% | |||
| Diageo plc (United Kingdom) | Beverages, Wines, & Spirits Manufacturer | 5,222,900 | $112,081,345 |
| Household Products—0.4% | |||
| Uni-Charm Corporation (Japan) | Toiletry Products Manufacturer | 528,900 | $33,541,041 |
| Packaged Foods & Meats—2.2% | |||
| Cadbury Schweppes plc (United Kingdom) |
Beverage & Confectionary Manufacturer | 13,884,100 | $171,319,659 |
| Soft Drinks—0.5% | |||
| Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co., Ltd. (Korea) | Soft Drinks, Juices & Sports Drinks Manufacturer | 33,695 | $37,760,862 |
| Asset Management & Custody Banks—2.0% | |||
| Schroders PLC (United Kingdom) |
International Asset Management | 6,109,700 | $158,062,460 |
| Diversified Banks—17.4% | |||
| Bank of Ireland (Ireland) | Commercial Bank | 16,766,221 | $249,409,837 |
| Barclays PLC (United Kingdom) | Commercial & Investment Banking, Insurance, Financial, Asset Management and Related Services | 23,854,800 | 238,893,418 |
| BNP Paribas SA (France) | Commercial Bank | 2,076,200 | 224,910,180 |
| Lloyds TSB Group plc (United Kingdom) |
Commercial Bank | 23,039,500 | 216,079,176 |
| HSBC Holdings plc (United Kingdom) | International Banking & Financial Services | 11,558,900 | 193,386,639 |
| Chinatrust Financial Holding Co. (Taiwan) (a) | Commercial Bank | 233,188,318 | 165,741,311 |
| Kookmin Bank (Korea) (a) | Commercial Bank | 861,850 | 63,530,420 |
| 1,351,950,981 | |||
| Diversified Capital Markets—8.4% | |||
| Credit Suisse Group (Switzerland) | Wealth Management & Investment Banking | 5,773,300 | $346,917,612 |
| UBS AG (Switzerland) | Wealth Management & Investment Banking | 6,497,200 | 300,408,789 |
| 647,326,401 | |||
| Investment Banking & Brokerage—4.7% | |||
| Daiwa Securities Group, Inc. (Japan) | Stock Broker | 29,870,000 | $272,215,276 |
| Nomura Holdings, Inc. (Japan) | Financial Services | 5,494,800 | 93,399,525 |
| 365,614,801 | |||
| Multi-Line Insurance—1.9% | |||
| Allianz SE (Germany) | Insurance, Banking & Financial Services | 668,000 | $144,248,202 |
| Reinsurance—1.0% | |||
| Hannover Rueckversicherung AG (Germany) | Reinsurance | 1,721,100 | $79,254,594 |
| Pharmaceuticals—7.6% | |||
| GlaxoSmithKline plc (United Kingdom) |
Pharmaceuticals | 12,821,300 | $325,837,057 |
| Novartis AG (Switzerland) | Pharmaceuticals | 4,775,800 | 261,693,444 |
| 587,530,501 | |||
| Building Products—0.6% | |||
| Geberit AG-Registered (Switzerland) | Building Products | 324,400 | $44,510,897 |
| Diversified Commercial & Professional Services—5.2% | |||
| Experian Group, Ltd. (Ireland) | Credit and Marketing Services | 21,932,400 | $173,011,325 |
| G4S PLC (United Kingdom) | Security Services | 31,531,500 | 153,343,439 |
| Meitec Corporation (Japan) | Software Engineering Services | 2,483,800 | 75,081,006 |
| 401,435,770 | |||
| Human Resource & Employment Services—2.8% | |||
| Adecco SA (Switzerland) | Temporary Employment Services | 3,966,600 | $214,377,702 |
| Industrial Conglomerates—0.2% | |||
| Koninklijke (Royal) Philips Electronics N.V. (Netherlands) | Electronics Manufacturer | 453,900 | $19,556,697 |
| Railroads—0.4% | |||
| Canadian National Railway Company (Canada) | Operates Network of Rail Tracks | 606,400 | $28,467,908 |
| Application Software—2.3% | |||
| SAP AG (Germany) | Develops Business Software | 3,391,200 | $175,860,210 |
| Electronic Equipment Manufacturers—3.1% | |||
| OMRON Corporation (Japan) | Component, Equipment, & System Manufacturer | 9,028,600 | $215,824,721 |
| Orbotech, Ltd. (Israel) (a) | Optical Inspection Systems | 1,237,700 | 21,721,635 |
| 237,546,356 | |||
| Semiconductors—6.4% | |||
| Rohm Company Limited (Japan) | Integrated Circuits & Semiconductor Devices Manufacturer | 2,941,500 | $257,250,976 |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Korea) | Consumer & Industrial Electronic Equipment Manufacturer | 411,900 | 244,662,571 |
| 501,913,547 | |||
| Name | Description | Shares Held/ Par Value |
Market Value |
| Semiconductor Equipment—0.7% | |||
| ASML Holding NV (Netherlands) (a) | Develop, Produce, and Market Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment | 1,804,711 | $57,053,868 |
| Total Common Stocks (Cost: $7,169,855,886) | 7,542,942,754 | ||
| Short Term Investments—1.2% | |||
| Repurchase Agreement—1.2% | |||
| State Street Bank and Trust Co. Repurchase Agreement, 4.00% dated 12/31/2007 due 1/2/2008, repurchase price $91,971,245, collateralized by a United States Treasury Index Inflation Bond, with a rate of 3.50%, with a maturity of 1/15/2011, and with an aggregate market value plus accrued interest of $128,380,000 | $91,950,811 | $91,950,811 | |
| Total Repurchase Agreement (Cost: $91,950,811) | 91,950,811 | ||
| Total Short Term Investments (Cost: $91,950,811) | 91,950,811 | ||
| Total Investments (Cost $7,261,806,697)—98.2% | $7,634,893,565 | ||
| Foreign Currencies (Cost $116,135)—0.0% | $114,334 | ||
| Other Assets In Excess Of Other Liabilities—1.8% | 141,286,983 | ||
| Total Net Assets—100% | $7,776,294,882 | ||
| (a) | Non-income producing security. |
| (b) | Represents an American Depositary Receipt. |