FRANdata has launched a new market index called FRANdex, which tracks the performance of the largest 50 U.S. publicly-traded companies that use the business format franchising model.

Using 1Q 2006 as a base, the FRANdex market capitalization index outperformed both the S&P 500 and the Russell 2000 indexes. On a quarter by quarter percentage change basis, the franchise companies in aggregate averaged 1/2-percent better than the Russell 2000 and 3/4-percent better than the S&P 500.

"As we weather this economy, it is a particularly interesting time to study the performance of franchise systems," saidDarrell Johnson, President and CEO of FRANdata. "Small business is often a leading indicator of recovery from economic downturns and the franchise systems that these 50 companies oversee are composed of individual small businesses. The performance of these publicly-traded companies – and the much larger set of privately-held franchise companies – may be telling us something about where we are headed."

The 50 publicly-traded companies chosen for the index represent the top 50 companies by market capitalization with material activity in franchising. They collectively operate 115 franchise brands.