RIFC 50 Index Snaps Back as Economy Started to Reopen in Midst of COVID-19 Pandemic

Thursday, September 10, 2020

RIFC Index

DURHAM, N.H.—The University of New Hampshire’s franchising sector-focused RIFC 50 Index™ regained 17.1%of its market value in the second quarter of 2020 following the worst quarterly drop since its inception. Developed and published by UNH’s Rosenberg International Franchise Center (RIFC), it is the first stock index to track the financial market performance of the U.S. franchising sector.

As the U.S. and global economies started to reopen, many of the severely battered franchise business sectors, including restaurants, lodging and travel-related businesses, started experiencing an increase in demand—though still in a limited way. Forty-six of the 50 components of the RIFC 50 Index made gains this quarter, with seven components making triple-digit gains. However, due to the severity of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its business, car rental operator and franchisor Hertz Global Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May, though it announced that it would remain open and able to pay new vendors. By the end of the quarter, Hertz had lost over 77% of its market value.

Overall, financial markets sentiment improved significantly this quarter as many investors, believing the worst of the pandemic was over, snapped up beat-up stocks and drove up prices of most market indices. The S&P 500 regained 20% of its market value. Technology and healthcare companies have powered the relatively strong performance of the S&P 500 Index.

The RIFC 50 Index is down 16.4% over the last 12 months, up 3.9% over the last five years, up 95.7% over the last 10 years, and up 232% since its inception in 2000.

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

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