Stephen Dover’s appointment as successor to Mark Mobius at Templeton Emerging Markets Group follows a difficult five years for emerging markets and an even worse experience for investors in several of Templeton’s funds.

According to data supplied by Morningstar, Templeton's flagship £1.5 billion Emerging Markets Investment Trust produced a negative market return of -17.8% over the year to March 29, compared with - 8.6% from global emerging market peers,