Franchise Direct Releases Its Second-Annual Top 100 Global Franchises

Online, April 26, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Franchise Direct has again pooled its extensive knowledge of global franchising to compile a list of the world's best franchises. According to the second annual list of the Top 100 Global Franchises, international franchising has gotten both more profitable and diverse throughout 2009 -2010.

Few companies working in franchising have the capabilities of Franchise Direct to analyse the state of global franchising. Its main offices are in Atlanta and Dublin and its seven national portals operate in the world's most active franchise markets. Franchise Direct has witnessed, and indeed accommodated, the rapid expansion of international franchising over the last decade.

The 2010 Top 100 rankings were compiled with an objective, quantifiable methodology and see McDonald's maintain their place as the world's top franchise. Generally-speaking, food franchises continue to dominate the Franchise Direct rankings. At a moment of economic difficulty in America, the emergence of new foreign markets, particularly in developing economies like China and India, has allowed to food franchises to consolidate their business. These franchises are not purely profit-driven and we've seen franchises like McDonald's take great strides in implementing eco-friendly solutions in their stores.

Health franchises are a sector that have enjoyed particularly fast growth, and Snap Fitness, a fitness franchise, and GNC, a franchised health retailer, have cemented their global standing in the past year. It's also exciting that two franchises owned by women - Merle Norman and Jazzercise - maintain their place in our rankings.

More and more foreign companies are franchising their businesses and two new non-American franchises have joined this year's Top 100. Canada's Yogen Fruz and Germany's TeaGschwendner have made the list, bringing the number of non-American franchises in the Top 100 to 15. The UK's InterContinental Hotels continues to be the top-ranked non-American franchise, coming in sixth place overall.

Economic projections by the likes of the International Franchising Association predict that 2010 will be a more profitable year both domestically and internationally for the world's top franchise brands. As the so-called 'global village' gets smaller and smaller, expect well-known franchises to expand even further into economies all around the world. Franchise Direct will certainly be there monitoring the market to assess the best-performing international franchises.

About Franchise Direct: Franchise Direct (http://www.franchisedirect.com) is one of the world's leading portals for franchise and business opportunities. Started as a single website for the promotion of franchises in the US market in 1998, Franchise Direct now operates a suite of six multilingual sites targeting North America and Europe.