Fund Evaluator:

North Square Select Small Cap I Overview

North Square Select Small Cap I (ADVGX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Small Blend fund. North Square launched the fund in 2009.

The investment seeks long-term capital appreciation. Under normal circumstances, the fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of small-capitalization companies. The fund’s investments in equity securities primarily include common stock, preferred securities and convertible securities. While the fund invests primarily in equity securities of U.S. issuers, it may invest in securities of foreign issuers, including those in emerging markets. In keeping with the fund's investment objective, investments in such foreign issuers is not expected to exceed 20% of the fund’s net assets.

About North Square Select Small Cap I (ADVGX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 14.36 years: Matthew Swaim (2009), Bruce Zessar (2010), Christopher Harvey (2015). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Russell 3000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Russell 2000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. North Square Select Small Cap I has 33 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 44.9% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

North Square Select Small Cap I is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. North Square Select Small Cap I has 0.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 99.0%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). North Square Select Small Cap I has 1.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $21 million in total assets, which is below the $685 million average for the Small Blend category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

ADVGX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The North Square Select Small Cap I expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Small Blend category. North Square Select Small Cap I has an expense ratio of 0.94%, which is 10% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a C. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. A portfolio turnover rate cannot be currently calculated for North Square Select Small Cap I. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 66% for the Small Blend category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, North Square Select Small Cap I returned -2.2%, which earned it a grade of B, as the Small Blend category had an average return of -2.8%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

North Square Select Small Cap I has a trailing yield of 0.10%, which is below the 0.42% category average. The fund normally distributes its income annually and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

North Square Select Small Cap I Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 22.7%, 4.5 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of A. The fund has returned 27.2% over the past year (grade of C), 18.4% over the past three years (grade of A) and 11.5% per year over the past five years (grade of A) and 12.5% per year over the past 10 years (grade of A).

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