SBA 7(a) Veterinary Clinic Feasibility Study in Colorado

Veterinary lending that runs large

Scale sets Colorado veterinary clinics apart in the 7(a) record. A $1.0 million median is 1.66x the equivalent across the country, the inner half of loans stretches $405,000 to $2.0 million, and the file holds 94 approvals worth $127.4 million between FY2017 and FY2026. The state is 8th by count, but veterinary clinics rank only 13 of 39 inside Colorado. Franchising is absent, at 0.00% of loans, consistent with a field of independent and group-owned practices.

Live Oak at the head of the table

Of the $127.4 million, $49.9 million sits with Live Oak Banking Company across 27 loans. Next is Wells Fargo Bank National Association (11 loans, $22.0 million), then United Community Bank (10, $13.2 million), Fifth Third Bank (7, $13.1 million) and PNC Bank, National Association (5, $8.2 million). Jefferson County has 18 loans, El Paso 13, Denver and Douglas 9 each, Larimer 7, Arapahoe and Weld 6, Boulder 5, Adams 4 and Broomfield 3. The Front Range carries the file. By year, FY2017 shows 12 loans and $10.4 million, FY2021 13 and $26.8 million, and FY2026 only 4 and $2.9 million.

Outcome floors

Cancellation after approval has a floor of 7.8%, identical at the ceiling. Across the 52 early loans that funded, 1.9% marks the charge-off floor, with the same 1.9% on the five-year basis. Those are minimums, but they compare well with consumer-facing classes such as gyms, which reflects well on a licensed professional business with recurring clients.

What a veterinary study has to test

Large tickets usually mean a practice purchase or a new hospital build, and the study should say which. For an acquisition, the revenue to test is the seller's, adjusted for the veterinarian's own production: if the departing owner generates most of the revenue, the study must show what remains. For a new clinic, the test is how many households within the catchment keep pets, how many competing clinics and emergency hospitals serve them, and how fast a client base builds. Staffing is a constraint, because the practice needs licensed veterinarians and technicians. Real estate cost, equipment and working capital should be set against a loan near $1.0 million, and the appraisal values the practice and the building. The class is veterinary clinics under one code, so specialty referral hospitals and general practices are not separated.