Baillie Gifford's £900million Monks investment trust saw an immediate narrowing of its discount following the announcement in late March of a change of in-house management, the trust has noted.

It was reporting a net asset value total return of 13per cent in the year to April 30, but a share price total return of 18.8 per cent, against the global index rise in sterling terms of 18 per cent.

The trust said performance detractors included geographic allocation and exposure to the oil and gas sector. Good stock selection in emerging markets and Japan was offset by poor relative returns in the UK, North America and Europe. A final dividend of 3.45p makes for an unchanged total of 3.95p. Baillie Gifford moved to head off performance concerns by switching the trust to its Global Alpha investment strategy under Charles Plowden.