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Ms Garrett-Cox has been Alliance’s chief investment officer since May last year, a position which she will retain. Before joining Alliance, she was chief investment officer at Morley, with specific responsibility for fund management teams in London, Dublin and Boston.

Ms Garrett-Cox, 40, graduated in history from Durham University, spending her early career working in US fund management with Fidelity Investments and UNI Storebrand. She then moved to Hill Samuel Asset Management as investment director, head of American equities.

In 2000, she joined Aberdeen Asset Management, later becoming chief executive of its operating subsidiary Aberdeen Asset Management. She joined Morley in 2004.

Gavin Haynes, managing director at Bristol-based IFA Whitechurch Securities, said: “Ms Garrett-Cox is very highly regarded, so this move will probably be seen as a positive. With the attempts to overhaul the management strategy through giving Ms Garrett-Cox greater responsibility on the portfolio construction side, the trust may provide a good turnaround situation.”

Mr Haynes described Alliance Trust as a well-diversified, plain-vanilla investment trust, which many advisers saw as "a safe pair of hands".

"However, it has underperformed its rivals in the past few years and has underperformed the AIC Global Growth sector because of its value-driven style and lack of exposure to emerging markets," he said.

Mr Haynes said the trust’s net asset value performance had fallen by 7 per cent over the last year, while increasing by 33 per cent over five.

"However, its price has suffered from a significant widening of the discount and is now on a compelling 19 per cent."