Following the announcement today that Donald Phillips has left Baillie Gifford, we have taken the action to suspend our A rating on the Baillie Gifford High Yield Bond fund. Whilst Mr Phillips' departure is clearly a loss, Baillie Gifford have a strong team and we will seek to meet the new co-manager, Lucy Isles, before firming our opinion on the changes. Robert Baltzer, an experienced investor and Head of the High Yield Bond team at Baillie Gifford, remains co-manager on the fund.

Baillie Gifford have also named a third co-manager, Lesley Dunn, on the Baillie Gifford Corporate Bond fund. Ms Dunn is an experienced investor and we welcome her addition to the team ahead of co-manager Stephen Rodger's previously planned retirement from the firm in April 2018. Torcail Stewart will remain a co-manager on the fund. We retain our A rating on this fund.

We will seek to meet with the management teams of both funds as soon as possible and update investors accordingly.