Mid Wynd International Investment Trust, Edinburgh Worldwide IT and Alliance Trust have all made top quartile returns in time since they were taken over by new fund managers, according to the latest FE Trustnet study. 
However, not all managers have experienced the same storming start to life in their new fund.
Almost a fifth of investment companies (18 per cent) appointed a new fund manager between the start of 2014 and the end of the first half of 2015, either as a sole manager or as part of a team.
The sector that saw the most upheaval was the IT Global sector, where more than a quarter of the 23 investment companies made manager changes.
Having previously looked at the fund managers running unit trusts in the global, UK and multi-asset sectors that have made storming starts in their new funds, below we take a look at the investment trust managers in the IT Global sector that took charge during the above period.
In an upcoming article, FE Trustnet will also look at the UK investment trusts and those in Asia.
As the below shows, the fortunes of the new managers have been mixed since the new managers took over.
Performance of funds since manager start date
Source: FE Analytics
The best performing fund relative to when the new manager started is Monks Investment Trust, run by Charles Plowden with deputy managers Malcolm MacColl and FE Alpha Manager Spencer Adair also joining in March 2015.
The team took over from Gerald Smith and Tom Walsh, who were replaced following a review by the trust's board and the Edinburgh-based investment group.
The fund had underperformed in the preceding five years – in the bottom quartile over this period – with the new team brought in to reverse this lengthy period of disappointing returns.
Since they took over, the fund has returned 61.8 per cent, the third highest performance in the IT Global sector and above both the sector average and the FTSE World index.
Performance of fund vs sector and benchmark since manager start
Source: FE Analytics
The £1.4bn fund invests in a wide range of diversified growth stocks which it typically holds for an average period of around five years.
Its largest holding is in financials and consumer services followed by industrials and technology, with 46.5 per cent in North America and 19.2 per cent in the emerging markets.
The fund is 6 per cent geared and is currently is trading at par with net asset value (NAV), according to the latest data from the AIC. It has ongoing charges of 0.59 per cent.
The next best performer is Alliance Trust, which was taken over by Simon Clements in October 2014, though he ran the fund alongside Rod Davidson for the first 13 months of his tenure.
He took over the equities portion of the portfolio from Ilario di Bon, who stepped down having run the fund for just over two years.
Di Bon was tasked with driving outperformance but failed to do so, with the fund’s net asset value and share price below average over three and five years and its total return was below the FTSE All Share over his tenure.
Since Clements joined the fund in October 2014, the £2.49bn fund has returned 68.36 per cent, the fifth best performer since he took charge.
The fund is slightly overweight North American, UK and European equities while underweight emerging market equities.
Its largest sector weighting is in technology (21.8 per cent), with financials (18.2 per cent) and consumer discretionary firms (16.4 per cent) the next highest allocations in the portfolio.
Earlier this year, Alliance Trust changed its investment strategy from investing in direct shares to a new multi-manager approach and transferred management to Willis Towers Watson.
Under the new proposal a panel of eight fund groups will run the allocation of individual asset classes in the global portfolio.
The fund is 4 per cent geared, trades on a 5.4 per cent discount to net asset value and has ongoing charges of 0.54 per cent.
The only other trust in the top quartile of the IT Global sector since the manager took over is the £143m Mid Wynd International Investment Trust after former manager Michael MacPhee retired.
The fund, which had been the smallest of five global investment trusts run by Baillie Gifford, also replaced the fund management group with Artemis Investment Management.
It is now run by Alex Illingworth, Rosanna Burcheri and Simon Edelsten, who took charge when MacPhee retired and have returned 71.35 per cent over their tenure.
Performance of fund vs sector and benchmark since manager start
Source: FE Analytics
The four crown rated fund is heavily invested in North America (53.6 per cent) but noted in its latest factsheet that valuations were not a problem in the region, despite many voicing concerns over the price of US assets.
“A year ago, we cautioned that the share prices of some of the company's core holdings may have run a little ahead of fundamentals, but recent results show that their cashflows have caught up with their share prices,” the managers said.
“Global equity funds have produced very strong returns for investors over the last eight years so the caution of many commentators is understandable. For our part, however, we no longer find that valuations give us cause for concern.”
The four crown-rated fund is 1 per cent geared, priced at its net asset value and has an ongoing charges figure of 0.75 per cent.
Sitting in the second quartile is the £3.2bn Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust, which has been run by Paul Niven since Jeremy Tigue retired after 17 years on the portfolio.
Over Niven’s tenure the company has returned 67.52 per cent, which is ahead of the benchmark and places the trust in the second quartile of the IT Global sector.
Performance of fund vs sector and benchmark since manager start
Source: FE Analytics
In its latest factsheet, Niven said: “Political instability and the rise of the anti-establishment movements are inextricably linked to deeper disruptive trends which seem likely to both fuel growth and popular discontentment for some time to come.”
As such the fund, which invest invests in a diversified range of publicly listed private equity companies as well as unlisted securities, is “well-placed to withstand any further short-term volatility in the market”.
The oldest investment trust, which was founded in 1868, is on a 7.2 per cent discount to NAV, is 6 per cent geared and charges of 0.54 per cent.
Finally, both The Scottish Investment Trust and Edinburgh Worldwide have made third quartile returns since Alasdair McKinnon and FE Alpha Manager Douglas Brodie took over respectively.
The £667m Scottish Investment Trust, which is on a 9.1 per cent discount, is 6 per cent geared and has a charges figure of 0.59 per cent, has returned 51.27 per cent since McKinnon has been in charge.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh Worldwide, which is on a 6 per cent discount to NAV. Is 5 per cent geared and has a charges figure of 0.92 per cent, has returned 51.27 per cent since Brodie took over.