Audrey Ryan, an equities manager at Kames Capital, has held onto to top spot in The Herald's monthly Citywire table of top-performing managers .

In the rankings of managers working for investment houses with a significant presence in Scotland, the managers taking the top seven places were all AAA-rated in the three-year performance period to November 30, compared with only two AAA ratings the previous month. All saw a sharp improvement in their relative performance in the UK-wide league, with seven Scottish managers in the top 300 compared with none at September 30. A further 30 managers were AA-rated over the period, a rise from 21 the previous month.

Ms Ryan, who manages the UK Opportunities and two ethical funds for Kames, saw her overall ranking rise from 244 to 173, just ahead of Jacqueline Lowe at 177, manager of SLI's Dynamic Distribution fund, who had topped the table in September but then slipped back to 458.

Ms Lowe's SLI colleagues take the next three places in the Scottish table - Thomas Moore (184) and Edward Legget (214) at the UK Equity Unconstrained fund, and Colette Conboy (220) at the International Trust account. Next comes Jacob de Tusch-Lec at Artemis, who led the pack for several months earlier in the year and whose ranking has rebounded from 507 to 227.

There was a similar climb for the last AAA-rated manager, Ben Russon at Franklin, up from 664 to 274. Mr Russon's funds include the UK Managers Focus, UK Blue Chip, UK Opportunities and UK Equity Income.

The top 10 is completed by David Gait, who manages a range of funds at First State and who drops from second place in October; Colin Morton , a co-manager of equity funds with Mr Russon at Franklin; and Iain Buckle at Kames, whose funds include the Ethical Cautious Managed (with Ms Ryan) and two ethical corporate bond funds.

Among the 110 rated managers, SLI improved its representation from 15 to 18, behind joint leaders Baillie Gifford and Franklin Templeton, who each have 21 manages sin the listings. Aberdeen upped its quota from nine to 11 and Kames Capital from eight to 10.

Ina strong month for Scottish management, only two managers slipped off the list for weak performance, Steven Hay at Baillie Gifford and Heather Arnold at Franklin Templeton.

Among re-entrants to the list were veteran manager Victor Wood at McInroy & Wood, and Barrie Norris and Hugh Cuthbert at boutiques Argonaut and SVM respectively.