A publicly traded British company's new U.S. mutual fund business led the pack last among the smallest fund firms.

The information within this article draws from Morningstar Direct data on July 2018 open-end mutual fund and ETF flows (excluding money market funds and funds of funds), specifically for firms with under $1 billion in mutual fund AUM.

PPM America brought in an estimated $221 million in net inflows in July, more than any other fund family in the group and up from flat flows in June. Other big winners in July included: Rational Funds, $161 million (up from $8 million); Strategy Shares, $133 million (up from $10 million); Penn Mutual, $101 million, and Pzena, $89 million (up from $23 million).

On a relative basis, setting aside apparent newcomers, Belpointe led the smallest fund firms in July, with estimated net inflows equivalent to 79.82 percent of its AUM, up from 19.86 percent in June. Other big winners in July included: Belmont, 72.29 percent (up from 1.14 percent in net outflows); PPM, 68.61 percent (up from 0.04 percent); Rational, 60.14 percent (up from 7.89 percent); and Strategy, 53.38 percent (up from 9.05 percent).

There were also seven apparent newcomers (i.e. a firm where its AUM was roughly equal to its monthly net inflows) in July. They were: Exchange Traded Concepts; Impact Shares; Penn Mutual; Defiance; Altegris; ClearShares; and Aptus.

On the flip side, July was a rough month for Chilton, which suffered $147 million in estimated net outflows, more than any other fund firm in the group and down from $2 million in net inflows in June. Other big sufferers in July included: Toews, $41 million (up from $15 million); BTS, $38 million (up from $33 million); Elkhorn, $35 million (up from $4 million); and AdvisorShares, $34 million (up from $16 million).

Proportionately, Volshares led outflows in July, with estimated net inflows equivalent to 400 percent of its AUM (i.e. it suffered net outflows equal to nearly four times the amount of AUM it had left at the end of the month, after those outflows), up from 0.3 percent in June. Other big sufferers in July included: QUANTX, 122.19 percent (down from essentially flat flows); Baywood, 56.2 percent (up from 0.3 percent); Market Vectors, 34.64 percent (up from 0.83 percent); and Weatherstorm, 32.62 percent (up from 0.02 percent).

As a group, fund families with less than $1 billion in AUM each brought in a combined $897 million in estimated net inflows in July, equivalent to 0.96 percent of their combined AUM. That's up from $646 million in June.

Across the whole industry, mutual funds and ETFs brought in $31.915 billion in estimated net inflows in July, equivalent to about 0.17 percent of industry AUM (which reached $18.794 trillion as of the end of July). That's up from $23.037 billion in net industry outflows in June. 

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