Funding for diagnostic centres, pathology and analytical laboratories, imaging providers and medical device businesses.
What we arrange
- Analyser, imaging and laboratory equipment finance
- Commercial mortgages and fit-out finance for laboratory and imaging premises
- Asset refinance to release capital from equipment already owned
- Working capital and contract-backed funding
- Invoice finance where you supply on trade terms
Equipment-led funding
These businesses are unusually capital-intensive. A single analyser or imaging system can represent a large share of the balance sheet, and the technology cycle means replacement is a recurring rather than one-off event.
Asset finance is the natural fit. It matches the cost of the equipment to the period over which it earns, and where you already own equipment outright, refinancing it can release capital for expansion without new external security. Structuring the choice between hire purchase and lease correctly has real consequences for your tax position and balance sheet, and is worth deciding deliberately rather than by default.
What lenders will actually do
- Equipment: funders publish explicit appetite for imaging systems, MRI and CT scanners, X-ray systems and laboratory analysers, on hire purchase or leasing.
- Typical eligibility: a UK limited company, PLC, LLP, sole trader or partnership, with a minimum of around three years’ trading. That trading requirement is the main gate for earlier-stage businesses.
- Refinance: equipment already owned outright can be refinanced to release capital, on both encumbered and unencumbered assets, without new property security.
- Facility sizes: from small-ticket up to £10m for professional practices and corporates, with decisions on straightforward cases often inside a working day.
- Contract income: revenue from NHS trusts, health boards or established private groups provides the visibility funders respond to. Single-contract dependency needs the case built more carefully.
Sole traders and small partnerships: finance of £25,000 or less to a sole trader, or to a partnership of two or three partners, is regulated consumer credit even when used for business. We cannot arrange those. Limited companies and LLPs are not affected, and nor is finance above £25,000.
Contract income and lender comfort
Where your revenue comes from contracts with NHS trusts, health boards or established private groups, that provides the kind of visibility lenders respond well to. Businesses at an earlier stage, or heavily dependent on a single contract renewal, need the case built more carefully, and often a specialist rather than a mainstream funder.
Common questions
Can we fund equipment before a contract starts?
Sometimes, where the contract is signed and the counterparty is strong. Funding purely speculative capacity is much harder and generally needs a different structure.
Is hire purchase or leasing better?
It depends on whether you want to own the asset, how quickly it becomes obsolete and your tax position. We will set out the practical difference for your specific case rather than defaulting to one.
All figures are indicative and subject to lender assessment, your circumstances, valuation and prevailing market conditions. Commercial mortgages and unregulated bridging loans are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Property offered as security may be at risk if you do not keep up repayments.
This page was last reviewed in September 2026 and is next scheduled for review in March 2027. Lending criteria change frequently, so contact us for current terms rather than relying on published figures.