Solutions for Investors
Franchise systems file their fundamentals every year. Read them like it.
Most franchisors are private — but their FDDs disclose unit economics, system movement, fee structures, and obligations, annually and publicly. Clearly reads the filings so your diligence starts from source documents, not management decks.
One brand, a platform, or a whole category — with every figure cited to the filing.
Item 19 & 20 · Fundamentals
Private companies, public fundamentals.
Unit-level economics, openings, closures, transfers, and turnover — disclosed in the filing whether or not the company ever talks to you.
Year-over-Year · At scale
Change detection you’d otherwise build by hand.
Diffing two 400-page filings is a week of analyst time — per brand. Clearly has both filing years and the YoY report for 700+ brands, section by section.
Custom reports
Any disclosed field, screened your way.
“Every fitness system that lost net units two filings running.” “Every brand whose Item 19 method changed.” If it’s in the FDDs, we can screen for it.
Worked example · Category screen
A category, read across two filing years.
Home services, 2025 → 2026 filings: disclosed investment levels and their year-over-year movement, with platform ownership visible across the category.
| Brand | Portfolio | Investment 2026, low → high | High-end Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mr. ApplianceHandyman & repair | Neighborly | $147,750 → $273,175 | +27.1% |
| Mr. HandymanHandyman & repair | Neighborly | $161,900 → $215,000 | +19.7% |
| HouseMasterHome inspection | Neighborly | $73,878 → $132,689 | +17.7% |
| Gotcha CoveredWindow treatments | Five Star | $122,760 → $166,500 | +14.4% |
| Five Star Bath SolutionsKitchen & bath remodel | Five Star | $162,000 → $333,500 | +22.8% |
| Molly MaidResidential cleaning | Neighborly | $144,150 → $203,950 | +3.4% |
| Junk KingJunk, moving & dumpster | Neighborly | $121,200 → $236,000 | 0.0% |
Moments in the process
The questions get specific. So do the answers.
“We’re screening a category before we pick targets.”
Category intelligence reads every filed system in the space — units, growth, investment, Item 19 disclosure — so the long list builds itself from filings.
OutcomeThe screen runs on disclosure, not on who returns calls.
“We have a target. What does its paper trail say?”
Open the Workspace: the full filing, the Clearly Report, and Clara for direct questions — franchisee turnover, litigation history, fee changes — every answer cited.
OutcomeDiligence questions grounded in the target’s own disclosure.
“Diffing filings across the watchlist is eating analyst weeks.”
Year-over-Year reports cover 700+ brands where we hold both the 2025 and 2026 filings — fees, Item 19, unit movement, terms — the legwork already done.
OutcomeA filing-season sweep in an afternoon, not a quarter.
“Is this growth story real at the unit level?”
Item 20 shows openings against closures, transfers, and terminations; Item 19 shows what units actually earn. The deck says one thing — the filing is on the record.
OutcomeManagement’s narrative, tested against management’s disclosure.
“We hold a platform. We need to monitor the neighborhood.”
Track competitors’ filings alongside your portfolio brands’ — fee moves, Item 19 changes, unit trends — from one library.
OutcomePortfolio reviews with the category’s filings in the room.
“Our thesis needs a screen nobody publishes.”
Custom reports run your criteria across every filed FDD — any Item, any threshold, any category — and return the brands that match, cited to the source.
OutcomeA proprietary screen without a proprietary data team.
Source documents in. Sharper theses out.
Clearly reads the filings so your team reads the signal. Never a ranking, never a recommendation.