Four Merrymeeting Brands Named in Entrepreneur's Franchise 500

CLEVELAND, OH, January 3, 2008 – Entrepreneur recently announced the 29^th annual Franchise 500® rankings, which included four Merrymeeting®, Inc. brands: Sunbelt®, MTOclean®, Inspect It 1st® and Computer Troubleshooters® USA.

“Our diverse portfolio of franchised brands has performed well this past year,” stated John Davies, Merrymeeting CEO. “Our unit counts have continued to grow through franchise sales and acquisition, making our brands even more competitive in their respective industries.”

The four Merrymeeting brands making the Franchise 500 also received nods in additional specialized categories:

• Sunbelt, the place to go to buy or sell a business®, was ranked #367 on the Franchise 500. It was also noted on America’s Top Global Franchises (#160) and Top Low-Cost Franchises (#88).

• MTOclean, the personal touch people®, moved up on the Franchise 500 to #292 this year. The residential and commercial cleaning franchise was also #64 on the Top Low-Cost Franchises list.

• Inspect-It 1^st, which merged with the Prospection™ home inspection franchise last year, was named #339 on the Franchise 500. The franchise was also ranked #96 of the Top Home-Based Franchises and #80 of the Top Low-Cost Franchises.

• Computer Troubleshooters USA (CT USA) not only placed on the Franchise 500 at #251, but was also noted in three specialized categories. CT USA was named to America’s Top Global Franchises (#118), Top Low-Cost Franchises (#54) and Top Home-Based Franchises (#64).

“CT USA continues their dominance in the technology services market and was ranked ahead of all its franchise competitors,” added Davies. “We are also proud to have Sunbelt be the only business brokerage franchise named to the Franchise 500.”

Entrepreneur annually examines franchise companies that submit full Uniform Franchise Offering Circulars (UFOCs) or Canadian disclosure documents. The franchise must have at least ten units, at least one being U.S.-based, be actively seeking new franchises in the United States and cannot be in Chapter 11. All companies are judged by the same objective criteria, which includes financial strength and stability, growth rate and size of system.

Merrymeeting, Inc. (MMI) is a Cleveland-based investment and management firm that exclusively focuses on the acquisition and development of franchised brands. MMI currently supports more than 1,400 franchised locations on six continents through its five franchisor subsidiaries: Frontier Adjusters, Sunbelt, MTOclean, Inspect It 1st and Computer Troubleshooters USA.  To learn more about Merrymeeting and its brands, please visit www.merrymtg.com.