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Attention Business Editors
Franchise Services of North America Inc. Announces Holding of Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders; Sale of New Franchises; and Update on
Regulatory Matters
TSX-V Trading Symbol: FSN
CALGARY, May 13 /CNW/ - Franchise Services of North America Inc. ("FSNA"
or the "Company") held its annual and special meeting of shareholders (the
"Meeting") earlier today. At the Meeting, all of management's nominees, being
Mr. Sandy Miller, Mr. Tom McDonnell, Mr. David Forseth, Mr. Phil DeLeon and
Mr. Michael Linn, were re-elected to the Company's Board of Directors for the
ensuing year. In addition, BDO Seidman LLP was appointed as the Company's
auditors. Also at the Meeting, the Company's existing By-Law No.1 was repealed
and Amended By-Law No.1 was adopted. The repeal of By-Law No.1 and the
adoption of Amended By-Law No.1 remains subject to final approval of the TSX
Venture Exchange.
FSNA also announced the addition of three new franchisees. The Company
continues to increase the awareness of the Rent-A-Wreck brand in Canada,
through the opening of stores in Oakville, Ontario, Blairmore, Alberta, and
Castlegar, British Columbia.
Bob Barton, the Company's Chief Operating Officer, stated, "The Company
is very pleased with the growth of its Canadian business over the last year
and the continuing development of the Rent-A-Wreck brand. Canadian expansion
was a significant goal of the reverse take-over transaction completed in late
2006 and is one element of FSNA's strategic vision for the combined company
going forward."
FSNA is also providing an update on the cease trade orders issued by
certain Canadian securities commissions and the TSX Venture Exchange.
Management, together with the Company's external advisors, continue to work
with the Alberta Securities Commission (the "ASC") to respond to comments
received from the ASC on the presentation of FSNA's financial statements and
certain other disclosure documents. It is anticipated that trading in FSNA's
shares will not resume until all of the ASC's comments have been resolved.
Management has now provided the ASC with complete responses to all of the
comments that have been received and believes that substantial progress has
been made in resolving all such comments.
About FSNA
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FSNA is a publicly traded company on the TSX Venture Exchange. The
Company and its subsidiaries own the following brands: U-Save Car & Truck
Rental, U-Save Car Sales, Rent-A-Wreck of Canada, Auto Rental Resource Center
("ARRC"), Xpress Rent A Car and Peakstone Financial Services.
U-Save, together with its subsidiary ARRC, has over 1,100 locations
throughout the United States and is one of North America's largest franchise
car rental companies. Having primarily serviced the local market for the past
25 years, the Company is expanding into the airport market with plans for the
opening of airport locations in the top 30 markets in the United States and
the major airports in Canada. U-Save currently services 27 airport markets in
14 different states. U-Save Car Sales is an expansion of the U-Save brand into
the car sales market, and provides goods and services to car sales operators
looking to affiliate with a national brand.
Practicar Systems Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of FSNA) owns the
rights to the Rent-A-Wreck(R) trademark for all of Canada. The Rent-A-Wreck(R)
system operates a network of 53 franchises from coast-to-coast in Canada,
providing a range of vehicle rental, leasing and sales options to its
customers. The Rent-A-Wreck(R) system has been in continuous operation in
Canada since 1976.
Forward-Looking Information
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Certain statements made in this news release are forward looking
including in the paragraph wherein the Company has provided an update on
certain regulatory matters. The words "may", "could", "should", "would",
"expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", or "outlook" and
similar expressions often identify forward-looking information. By their
nature, forward-looking statements require FSNA to make assumptions and are
subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. There is significant risk that
predictions, forecasts, conclusions and projections will not prove to be
accurate, that FSNA's assumptions may not be correct and that actual results
may differ materially from such predictions, forecasts, conclusions or
projections. With respect to these forward-looking statements, we have
assumed, among other things, that the ASC is satisfied with the responses that
management has provided to a substantial number of their comments and the only
comments left to resolve are those set out in their most recent letter to us.
If such assumption proves incorrect, there is a risk that the Company's
assessment of the progress that it has made in addressing the ASC's comments
could prove materially incorrect. FSNA's forward-looking statements are
qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. In addition, the
forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this news release,
and except as required by applicable law, FSNA undertakes no obligation to
publicly update these forward-looking statements to reflect new information,
subsequent events or otherwise.
The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the
contents of this press release.
-30-
/For further information: on FSNA or any of its operating subsidiaries
please contact: Alison Tullis, CHF Investor Relations, (416) 868-1079 x 233,
Alison@chfir.com; Robert M. Barton, Chief Operating Officer, FSNA, (601)
713-4333 x 116, www.fsna-inc.com/
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