Why were some Belocal publication franchises excluded from the financial performance representation?
Belocal Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
This historical financial performance representation relates to Commission payments we paid from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025 ("Reporting Period") to 84 BeLocal Publications that were in print as of June 30, 2024 and that had been in print for a full year ("Reporting Publications") and to 88 franchisees who were active franchisees for the Reporting Period ("Reporting Franchisees"). By "in print," we mean that the publication that had been in print for at least one year under the franchisee's management. By "active franchisee" we mean actively involved in in-print activities for at least one Publication for the entirety of the Reporting Period.
We had a total of 135 BELOCAL publication franchises during the Reporting Period. We excluded the Commission payments made to publications that were not in print for the full year. We do not include information for franchisees who have been operating less than one year because we do not consider that information to be as reliable as information from franchisees who have been in operation for at least one year. We also excluded the Commission payments made to publications that were managed by 4 franchisees whose Commission payments were calculated using a different formula than the rest of our franchisees. We do not include in this disclosure document financial information about Publications managed by our affiliate. We do not include in this disclosure document financial information about our franchisees who operate the 13 Test Publications.
Source: Item 19 — FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE REPRESENTATIONS (FDD pages 55–59)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Belocal's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the financial performance representation includes data from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, for 84 Belocal publications that were in print as of June 30, 2024, and had been in print for a full year, along with 88 active franchisees during that period. The term "in print" means the publication had been in print for at least one year under the franchisee's management, and "active franchisee" means actively involved in in-print activities for at least one publication throughout the reporting period.
Belocal excluded certain publication franchises from its financial performance representation for specific reasons. Publications not in print for the entire year were excluded because Belocal considers information from franchisees operating for less than a year to be less reliable. Additionally, publications managed by four franchisees whose commission payments were calculated using a different formula were also excluded.
Furthermore, the financial information does not include data from publications managed by Belocal's affiliate or the 13 test publications. This means that a prospective franchisee should be aware that the financial performance data presented is based on a specific subset of Belocal franchises that meet particular criteria, and their individual results may vary.