Bottom line
- Total investment $127K – $5.1M including a $120K franchise fee, 4.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.4M/year (median $881K).
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 45/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 24 loans (below the industry average).
- System growing at 24.4% CAGR over 3 years with 1059 total units — strong expansion trajectory.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Yale framework · single-unit ROIC
Returns Analysis
Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.
The model · Yale framework
What would one Signal unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
8%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Signal units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
39.7%
5.31× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.13×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$3.6M
on $12.3M purchase
Total debt
$8.7M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Signal franchisees appear to operate as insurance and risk management agencies, likely selling commercial or personal insurance products and services to clients. Day-to-day activities involve client acquisition, policy placement, claims management, and potentially independent contractor field agent management.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 25 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Signal presents moderate-to-cautious risk: lack of profitability disclosure, compliance/litigation history, and modest unit growth limit ability to assess true franchisee returns despite reasonable system size.
Score breakdown · what drove the 45 / 100 rating
- 01MEDNo Item 19 (average net income) disclosed — inability to validate actual profitability against $126,950–$5.1M investment range
- 02HIGHMultiple litigation categories including independent contractor misclassification suit and regulatory settlement — suggests operational/compliance risks
- 03MINORRegulatory settlement regarding agency licensing in Indiana — indicates potential compliance gaps in core business operations
- 04MEDHigh franchise fee ($120,000) relative to disclosed average revenue ($1.37M) without net income transparency creates ROI opacity
- 05MINOR10% YoY unit growth is modest for a 1,059-unit system — slower than healthy franchise systems; growth trajectory unclear
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
Item 20
Franchisee Contacts
Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.
Franchisee contacts
82 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Signal · FDD (2024) PDF