DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire’s RIFC 50 Index™ and the franchise business sector it represents outperformed the overall market represented in the S&P 500 Index by 9.2 percent in 2017.

The RIFC 50 Index, initially published in 2002 by UNH’s Rosenberg International Franchise Center (RIFC), is the first stock index to track the financial market performance of the U.S. franchising sector. It is a stock portfolio comprised of 50 U.S. public franchising companies representative of the U.S. business format franchising sector. Index tracking begins with the year 2000 and is updated quarterly. 

“For the whole 2017 year, the RIFC 50 Index was up 28.6 percent while the S&P 500 gained 19.4 percent,” said E. Hachemi Aliouche, director of the Rosenberg International Franchise Center at UNH’s Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics, and developer of the RIFC 50 stock index. “This is a significant change considering our index underperformed for six quarters in 2015 and 2016 in comparison to the S&P 500.”

Aliouche also noted that in 2017, four components of the RIFC 50 Index were acquired by private equity firms or other franchise firms: Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen, Panera Bread, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Ruby Tuesday, underscoring the increasing recognition of the value of franchise businesses.

Since its inception in 2000, the RIFC 50 Index is up 277.3 percent, while the S&P 500 is up 91.7 percent.

“Our RIFC 50 Index quarterly reports offer a succinct look at the best and worst performers from among the 50 franchise businesses in the portfolio, and the business reasons that may have contributed to their rise or fall in the quarterly ranking,” said Aliouche. The 2017 quarterly reports are available on the center’s website at unh.edu/rosenbergcenter/rcf-50-index.

To learn more about RIFC, visit unh.edu/rosenbergcenter and follow @RIFC_UNH on Twitter.  

The UNH Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics offers a full complement of high-quality programs in business, economics, accounting, finance, information systems management, entrepreneurship, marketing, and hospitality management. Programs are offered at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive development levels. The college is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the premier accrediting agency for business schools worldwide.