AFC Enterprises, Inc., the franchisor and operator of Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits, Church’s Chicken Cinnabon, Seattle’s Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia Coffee, announced last night that its board of directors has approved a share repurchase program of up to $50 million effective immediately.

The program, which is open-ended, will allow the company to repurchase its shares on the open market from time to time in accordance with the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Frank Belatti, Chairman and CEO said, “By almost any comparison we believe AFC is a high performing, yet undervalued company. AFC has consistently demonstrated its ability to deliver strong sustainable earnings growth, driven by its solid business model and strategy. We believe we will continue to deliver a 25 percent EPS growth rate and remain comfortable with consensus earnings estimates of $0.40 per share for the second quarter 2002, and $1.72 per share for the full year. The repurchase program clearly signals our confidence in our ability to deliver value to our loyal shareholders.”