2012 Annual Franchise Review: Slow and Steady, Recovery Continues
As you will see in this year’s numbers, the franchise print segment is still a pretty good bellwether of the economy, and not just in North America. As we continue the slow recovery that first began to percolate in last year’s Annual Franchise Review...
To download the PDF of the charts and lists for the 2012 Annual Franchise Review, click here.
As you will see in this year’s numbers, the franchise print segment is still a pretty good bellwether of the economy, and not just in North America. As we continue the slow recovery that first began to percolate in last year’s Annual Franchise Review, our counterparts on the other side of the world have been dealing with their own set of recessionary blues. Since four of the six US-based print franchises also have interests in other parts of the world, they give us a glimpse into the business conditions outside our borders. This also allows us to make some comparisons, even if they are quite general.
Of course, the big news in the franchise world this year is the acquisition of AlphaGraphics by Blackstreet Capital Partners II, which closed on January 11, 2012. The Maryland-based private equity fund bought the franchise from UK-based GA Pindar & Son Ltd. The initial transition period saw the ouster of Kevin Cushing, who had served as CEO since 2004. Art Coley, who came to AlphaGraphics from ICED, was promoted from senior vice president to president of the system. It is still too early to know how these changes will affect the system and its franchisees. The numbers reported in this year’s Franchise Review reflect 2011 performance, so are not affected by the acquisition.
Spring Forward
In 2011, the franchise segment of the printing industry produced total sales of $1,583,383,512. That was down 3.5 percent from 2010 figures, but most the losses are attributable to franchise interests outside North America. On this continent, franchise print sales rose by 0.57 percent to $1,318,243,174.
Average system-wide sales were $263,897,252; mirroring the overall 3.5 percent dip. Franchise Services, franchisor of Sir Speedy, PIP, Signal Graphics, and Copies Now, maintained the highest system-wide sales with $431 million; 2.49 percent less than the previous year. Minuteman was close behind at $420 million, reflecting a dip of 0.94 percent. AlphaGraphics reported a total of $286,308,129, which is an 8.73 percent gain. The Allegra Network posted $226,105,000 overall; down 2.2 percent on the year. ICED, home of Kwik Kopy Printing, Kwik Kopy Business Centers, Franklin Printing, and Ink Well, suffered a loss of 32.21 percent in system-wide sales with a total of $133,224,234. CPrint International, which currently only has affiliates in the US, saw system-wide sales grow by 3.51 percent to $86,746,149.
This year, Minuteman posted the highest North American sales with $350 million, down 0.94 percent on the year. Franchise Services followed with sales of $330 million; a 1.46 percent gain. AlphaGraphics’ 7.99 percent gain to $231,330,553 put it in third place. Allegra, which has no franchisees outside North America, slipped by 2.2 percent with sales of $231,200,000. ICED saw the largest gain; jumping 35.32 percent to post sales of $94,061,472. And CPrint’s $86,746,149, being both North American and total sales, reflected the same 3.51 percent gain.
Personal Best
Oddly, although every system reported an increase in average system-wide sales per shop (SPS) for shops that are more than one year old, the overall average was down by a slight 0.3 percent to $615,623. (This is one of those odd statistical quirks that forces me to re-examine the numbers repeatedly.)
Two systems reported average sales per shop in excess of $1 million: CPrint with $1,125,246 and AlphaGraphics with $1,001,123; gaining 5.33 percent and 2.81 percent, respectively. Allegra Network reported the strongest growth in SPS with a 26.12 percent climb to $973,200. Franchise Services saw SPS rise by 1.46 percent to $751,000. Minuteman’s average SPS of $483,000 marked a gain of 0.62 percent. And ICED’s system-wide average SPS rose by 6.26 percent to $463,809.
