The business wanted £50,000 to support the next stage of its growth. The money was intended to increase laboratory capacity through a combination of additional technician resource, materials, workflow improvements and specialist dental laboratory equipment. The objective was straightforward: process more work, improve turnaround times and create enough capacity to take on additional dental-practice clients. The business secured the capital needed to invest in its laboratory without having to postpone growth while waiting to accumulate the cash internally. It could continue building production capacity and supporting increased demand from its dental-practice customer base.
An established dental laboratory wanted funding to increase production capacity and take on more work from dental practices.
On the surface, this was the kind of established business you might expect to finance easily. It had been trading since 2007, employed 13 people and was generating consistent monthly receipts. But the historic accounts told a more complicated story.
01
The requirement
The business wanted £50,000 to support the next stage of its growth.
The money was intended to increase laboratory capacity through a combination of additional technician resource, materials, workflow improvements and specialist dental laboratory equipment. The objective was straightforward: process more work, improve turnaround times and create enough capacity to take on additional dental-practice clients.
02
The challenge
The previous year's accounts showed a loss and declining net worth. That was enough for some lenders to stop looking.
But the latest figures showed a very different trajectory. Turnover remained stable at around £700,000, gross profit had increased from approximately £182,000 to £222,000 and gross margin had improved from 25.8% to 31.3%. Most importantly, the business had moved from an operating loss of around £58,000 to an operating profit of more than £20,000.
Recent banking also showed monthly credits ranging from approximately £57,000 to £94,000, averaging around £77,700.
The challenge was making sure the funding decision reflected where the business was going, not simply one historic set of accounts.
03
The structure
We built the case around the underlying improvement in trading, the laboratory's long operating history, consistent bank activity and the commercial purpose of the funding.
Rather than treating the previous loss as the whole story, the application showed why performance had improved and how additional capacity could support further growth. A £50,000 business loan was arranged.
04
The result
The business secured the capital needed to invest in its laboratory without having to postpone growth while waiting to accumulate the cash internally. It could continue building production capacity and supporting increased demand from its dental-practice customer base.
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