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.
Seafood processing converts harvest into shelf-stable margin — filleting, freezing, smoking, canning, portioning — and is underwritten on throughput, yield, and supply commitment: a plant without contracted landings or farm supply is stainless steel waiting for fish. The study documents the supply shed and its seasonality, validates recovery rates by species and product form, and builds channel revenue across food-service, retail, and export at the certifications each channel requires.
Mass-balance modeling from round weight to finished product, HACCP and certification status as gating technical items, cold-chain capacity sized to the production peak, labor availability tested against the local market, and customer-concentration analysis on the anchor accounts.
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. Rural processing is core USDA B&I territory with the 5001 factor structure governing; SBA serves owner-operator plants; the firm's $38,110,000 agricultural-processing restoration record demonstrates the heavy-rehabilitation diligence idle plants require.
Processing engagements integrate the firm's cold-storage and food-manufacturing practices end to end, from intake ice to outbound reefer. 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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