Prepared for lenders, CDCs, and federal agencies to SBA SOP 50 10 8, USDA RD Instruction 5001, and conventional underwriting standards. Fiduciary duty runs to the lender and the agency, never the borrower. More than 4,000 studies since 1998 covering $40.2 billion in evaluated project value.
Ornamental production — koi, tropical aquarium fish, cultured coral, aquatic plants — sells beauty rather than protein, at per-unit prices food fish never reach and with demand tied to hobbyist and landscape markets rather than grocery. The study builds revenue from the channel structure the operation can actually serve — wholesale to retailers, direct online with live-arrival logistics, high-value koi at auction-grade pricing — and validates the husbandry expertise the premium grades require, since quality grading is where ornamental margins live or die.
Species-and-grade revenue modeling rather than biomass tonnage, shipping and live-arrival cost structures for direct channels, biosecurity and quarantine systems reviewed as core assets, and key-person analysis on the husbandry expertise the grading premium depends on.
Every Wert-Berater financial model is fully linked with no hardcoded values, so any reviewer can stress any input. Deliverables comprise a complete narrative report and the linked Excel model, with ten-year pro forma, sensitivity analysis at ±5, 10, and 15 percent, interest-rate stress from +0.5 to +3.0 percent, and ratio analysis benchmarked against RMA and IBISWorld data.
SBA engagements are prepared to SOP 50 10 8, including its debt-service-coverage minimums of 1.15x operating and 1.00x global. USDA engagements follow RD Staff Instruction 5001 across the Business & Industry, Community Facilities, REAP, and Value-Added Producer Grant programs. Conventional engagements are built to the lender's stated coverage standard, typically 1.20x. Owner-operator ornamental ventures fit SBA structures; greenhouse-scale plant and coral production parallels the firm's CEA practice; demand cyclicality with discretionary spending is stressed explicitly.
Ornamental work applies the firm's specialty-agriculture discipline to a market priced per fish rather than per pound. Independence is non-negotiable: determinations follow the evidence and are not revised under pressure, and studies are built to pass lender, agency, and third-party review without exception items.
Qualify a project. Tell us about the project and the program. We will tell you the truth about it — scope, timeline, and fee confirmed before work begins.
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