SBA 7(a) Veterinary Clinic Feasibility Study in Alabama

One lender and a lopsided year

One lender is named for Alabama's veterinary clinic loans under 7(a), and it is a large one: 10 loans worth $10.9 million sit with The Huntington National Bank, out of $25.7 million across 27 approvals from FY2017 to FY2026. A median of $475,000 stands at 0.77x of clinics elsewhere, while half of loans run from a very low $50,000 to $1.5 million, a wide range that covers both small equipment loans and practice purchases. Alabama is 34 among states by count and clinics hold 13 of 39 within the state. Franchise brands appear in 3.7%.

Places and years

Shelby County has 5 loans, Morgan has 4, Madison and Mobile have 3 each, and the remaining counties have 2 or one. The timeline is lumpy. FY2017 had 6 loans, then there were none in FY2022 and FY2023, and FY2026 produced 7 loans and $9.8 million, the biggest dollar year by a wide margin.

Blanks

Neither cancellation nor charge-off is reported, as the early cohorts are too small, which means this cell says nothing yet about outcomes. The reader should treat the table as a description of how Alabama clinics are financed, with a single bank prominent, and should ask each borrower for the practice's own record of revenue by doctor over several years.

What an Alabama clinic study must test

Small-animal, mixed and large-animal practices differ greatly in Alabama, so the study should state the practice type, then count the pet or livestock population served, the competing hospitals and the drive time for clients. Build revenue service by service, and let the staffing plan name the veterinarians and technicians, since recruitment can take months. For a purchase, the study should show how much revenue is tied to the selling doctor and how the transition will protect it. For a new build, it must show zoning, kennel and surgical areas, and equipment quotes. A loan near $475,000 could buy a practice or fund a build-out, so the plan must state which. Payments must stay covered on a conservative caseload, and the appraisal will ask whether a different veterinarian could earn enough to pay the implied rent.