October 6, 2012 - ARLINGTON, Va. - - Franchise companies continued to grow this quarter, although not as fast as the broader indices, according to FRANdex tracking results released today by FRANdata, an independent company that tracks and analyzes franchises and their performance.

Driven by growth in the energy, telecommunications, and consumer services sectors, major indices ended the third quarter with strong gains. S&P and Russell each rose 5.8% and 5.3%, respectively. FRANdex was up 2.5% in comparison. Although below the 5%+ registered this quarter by the broader indices, FRANdex again avoided the volatility experienced in the overall equity market with three straight quarters of steady gains.

Based on the actual index levels without normalization, over the past 26 quarters FRANdex's period-over-period yield is on average 1.3% higher than that for S&P and 1.2% higher than that for Russell 2000.

About FRANdex and FRANdex+M FRANdex and FRANdex+M track the performance, based on market capitalization, of the largest 46 and 47 U.S. publicly-traded companies, respectively, that use the business format franchising model. Collectively the companies operate 110 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 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, www.frandata.com

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