FRANdex Registered a Positive Gain in the 2nd Quarter

ARLINGTON, VA, August 26, 2012

Franchise companies continue to outperform the general market, according to FRANdex tracking results released today by FRANdata, an independent company that tracks and analyzes franchises and their performance.

The market gave up much of the gains achieved in the first quarter with S&P and Russell falling 3% and 4%, respectively, compared to the previous quarter. Continuing to perform well was FRANdex, the index tracking publicly-traded franchise companies, which outperformed the broader indices registering a 2% increase. This marks the third consecutive quarter where FRANdex beat the overall market.

Based on the actual index levels without normalization, over the past 25 quarters FRANdex's period-over-period yield is on average 0.87% higher than that for S&P and 0.68% higher than that for Russell 2000.

FRANdex and FRANdex+M track the performance, based on market capitalization, of the largest 47 and 48 U.S. publicly-traded companies, respectively, that use the business format franchising model. Collectively the companies operate 113 franchise brands. All index levels are normalized to 1,000 at Q1 2006 for comparison purposes and all remaining periods are adjusted accordingly. FRANdex+M includes the McDonald's Corporation. Since McDonald's represents more than 25% of the overall market capitalization of publicly-traded franchise companies, it is excluded from FRANdex but included in FRANdex+M for comparative purposes.

FRANdex includes publicly traded companies where franchising is material to the company's financial performance and business operations.

For the complete quarterly newsletter, visit http://www.frandata.com/FRANdex

About FRANdata
FRANdata is an independent research company that tracks and analyzes franchises and their performance. The Arlington, Va.-based company is often called upon by investors and private equityfirms to help them identify brands that meet their target performance metrics, and provide due diligence research as the deal progresses. FRANdata is often cited as an expert in such leading media as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Additional information is available on the company's website, http://www.frandata.com

About FRANdex and FRANdex+M
FRANdex and FRANdex+M track the performance, based on market capitalization, of the largest 49 and 50 U.S. publicly-traded companies, respectively, that use the business format franchising model. Collectively the companies operate 115 franchise brands. All index levels are normalized to 1,000 at Q1 2006 for comparison purposes and all remaining periods are adjusted accordingly. FRANdex+M includes the McDonald's Corporation. Since McDonald's represents more than 25% of the overall market capitalization of publicly-traded franchise companies, it is excluded from FRANdex but included in FRANdex+M for comparative purposes.