What the calculator estimates
The calculator gives an indicative range for how much a UK limited company might be able to borrow across the main types of commercial debt. It is a starting point for a conversation: indicative only, not a quote, offer or credit decision, and subject to underwriting.
Using it does not involve a credit search, and Bedrock only approaches lenders when you ask us to.
The figures it uses
- Trading performance: turnover and operating profit (EBIT).
- Assets: trade debtors, stock, fixed assets such as plant and vehicles, and property.
- Existing borrowing: term debt, invoice discounting, asset finance and any other debt, which is netted off what new lenders might provide.
- Optional deal figures: an asset or property you plan to buy, or the trading figures and assets of a business you plan to acquire.
The lending approaches it reflects
UK lenders look at borrowing capacity through several lenses, and the calculator reflects each of them rather than a single rule of thumb.
- Asset-backed lending: facilities secured on specific assets, such as invoice discounting against trade debtors, stock finance, asset finance against plant and vehicles, and commercial mortgages against property. Each asset type supports a different proportion of its value.
- Earnings-based lending: term loans sized on whether the business's cash flow can comfortably cover the interest and repayments, after tax and existing commitments.
- Combined view: the calculator brings these together and nets off existing debt to give an overall indicative range.
What it does not take into account
Several factors that lenders weigh sit outside the calculator. Any of them can move a real offer above or below the indicative range, which is why the figure is a guide rather than a promise.
- Credit history of the company and its directors.
- Sector appetite: some lenders avoid particular sectors or prefer others.
- The quality of security, such as debtor concentration, the condition of assets or the type of property.
- Covenants, personal guarantees and other terms a lender may require.
- Recent trading changes that are not yet reflected in the figures entered.
An example of how to read the result
Take a manufacturer with a healthy debtor book, some stock and a few years of steady profits. The calculator would show capacity from more than one source: working capital facilities against debtors and stock, and an earnings-based term loan sized on profits. If the same business already has a term loan, that existing debt reduces the new headroom shown.
A services business with few physical assets but strong recurring profits would see most of its indicative capacity come from earnings-based lending. A property-rich business with thin profits would see more from asset-backed lending. The shape of the result is often as useful as the total.