Business loans and finance in Aberdeen
How Aberdeen businesses use business finance
Aberdeen has 1,125 architectural and engineering firms on the 2025 register, more than any other kind of business in the city, and the products they ask about are invoice finance and asset finance. We take enquiries from £10,000 upwards, and a case goes only to lenders on our panel that take Scottish businesses.
Business loans in Aberdeen
An Aberdeen loan goes only to the lenders that both lend in Scotland and publish criteria the firm's numbers meet. The commercial finance broker asks that question of every lender before the case moves, because a decline for geography is a wasted week nobody needs.
The sums are larger here than in most cities of Aberdeen's size, and each check narrows the field: Scotland first, then the firm's own trading age and accounts, then whether a director owns a home. Each lender publishes its own minimum trading history and its own view of a director who does not own a home.
We work from Annesley in Nottinghamshire and we have no Aberdeen office. A Scottish limited company or LLP is handled by phone and email by a named case handler from the first call to drawdown. We will receive commission from lenders. On some cases we also charge a fee, which we set out in writing and agree with you before you proceed.
What we see from Aberdeen businesses
The Aberdeen enquiry is a service company to the energy industry: inspection, subsea engineering, fabrication, marine crewing, specialist haulage out of Dyce and Altens. These firms invoice operators and tier-one contractors who pay in 60 or 90 days, they carry expensive kit that a lender can value, and their turnover moves with a commodity price they do not control. Invoice finance lends against the invoices a business has raised, and asset finance is secured on the kit itself.
The transition changes what the kit is, not how it is financed. A firm moving from oil and gas to offshore wind or hydrogen wants the same hire purchase or lease on a different machine. Vessels are the exception: marine finance is a specialist corner of asset lending, which is worth knowing before a vessel purchase is agreed.
Then there is the Aberdeen that sells to the people the industry employs: the restaurants and bars of the West End, the cafes on Rosemount, the salons and the gyms. Those are paid at the till rather than on invoice.
Funding types, and how Aberdeen businesses use them
| Funding type | Typically used by | How it is sized |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice finance | Energy-service contractors paid by operators 60 to 90 days out | Sized on the sales ledger |
| Asset finance | Inspection kit, workshop plant, specialist vehicles and green energy equipment | Sized on the price of the kit |
Each lender publishes its own timescale, and they change. The lender assesses every case on its own numbers.
What lenders see in Aberdeen
Aberdeen City had 7,710 VAT or PAYE registered enterprises in March 2025, down from 7,860 a year before (Nomis dataset NM_142_1, read 21 September 2026), and the Scottish Government's Businesses in Scotland 2025, published 3 December 2025, recorded Aberdeen City as the council area with the largest fall in registered businesses in the year, 180 fewer, while Scotland as a whole rose 950 to 175,035. Professional, scientific and technical firms dominate the city at 2,125, with the 1,125 architectural and engineering practices inside that figure; wholesale and retail stands at 1,075, construction at 665, business administration at 660 and accommodation and food at 510. Scotland held 173 thousand businesses on the Nomis basis, 6.3% of the UK, on the ONS release of 24 September 2025.
The Aberdeen City Region Deal, signed on 21 November 2016, put £125 million from each government behind £764 million from regional partners, and the Scottish Government's interim evaluation of August 2025 credited it with more than £2 billion of economic boost, over 15,000 jobs supported including 1,300 new ones and £0.5 billion of extra tax. Beside those sits the Energy Transition Zone, 250 hectares next to the £420 million Aberdeen South Harbour, with 40 hectares of development land across five campuses for marine, hydrogen, wind, skills and innovation. Each has its own route in; none is ours.
Scotland borrows more per firm than the UK average. The British Business Bank's devolved nations briefing for 2025 counted 222 loans and overdrafts and £42 million per 10,000 smaller businesses over 2022 to 2024, against 169 and £29 million for the UK, and found 43% of Scottish smaller businesses using external finance in 2024, three points down. The number of facilities from the largest lenders grew 29% in 2024 while their value slipped 4%, and the use of leasing and hire purchase rose from 12% to 14%. The Bank of England's Agents wrote in September 2026 that “Banks are prepared to lend across all sizes of firm but prefer larger, existing clients”, which for a 30-person Aberdeen inspection firm describes where it stands with its own bank.
What changes for a Scottish business
Unsecured, asset and invoice lending follow the company rather than a building, so for the products Aberdeen uses most the question is simply whether a lender takes Scottish companies. Property is different. A charge over an Aberdeen unit is taken under Scots law, and a lender without a Scottish solicitor on its panel will not take one however good the case.
On the kit, the questions are the same in Aberdeen as anywhere: what the asset is, how old it is and who is selling it. A second-hand ROV or a ten-year-old crane counts as older machinery, and each asset lender publishes whether it takes it and whether it will defer the VAT on a purchase. For property-secured lending we work with UK limited companies and LLPs only, for business and commercial purposes. The Scotland page covers lending north of the border, and the invoice finance page the product detail.
Nothing on this page is an offer; each lender applies its own criteria to an Aberdeen case.
Where we work around Aberdeen
The city centre, Dyce, Altens, Bridge of Don, Westhill and Portlethen are handled from Nottinghamshire by phone and email, and so are Peterhead, Inverurie, Stonehaven and the rest of Aberdeenshire. A Fraserburgh fish processor and a Union Street restaurant get the same named handler and the same Scotland check.
We work with UK limited companies and LLPs only, for business and commercial purposes. Companies and LLPs registered in Scotland are included.
The panel behind this page
We have access to a range of UK commercial finance lenders through our principal, White Rose Finance Group Limited. Some of them write asset finance. Lenders set different criteria on trading history, seasonality and credit history, and each lender makes its own decision.
We check each lender’s published criteria first, and your case goes only to lenders whose requirements it meets. How a case is checked against criteria is set out on our how we work page.
Aberdeen business loan questions
Do Aberdeen businesses use the same lender panel as English ones?
Yes. The lenders are the same; the difference is that an Aberdeen case goes only to those that take Scottish companies and, where there is security, Scottish property. That check runs before anything else does.
How does invoice finance work for an Aberdeen energy-service contractor?
Operators and tier-one contractors pay in 60 to 90 days, and an invoice facility releases most of each bill on the day it is raised. An invoice lender weighs the operator who owes the money alongside the contractor, and each lender sets its own criteria on trading age and customer concentration.
Is the Aberdeen City Region Deal something you arrange?
No. The City Region Deal is a public programme delivered by the two councils and their partners, and its money reaches projects through them. We arrange the commercial borrowing that sits beside it, never the public money itself.
What if the firm had a loss-making year when oil was down?
A loss-making year is not always the end of it. Against a machine or a vehicle the lender has the asset to fall back on, and each asset lender publishes how it reads a loss where trading has since recovered; unsecured lenders read the accounts more strictly. Criteria differ between lenders, and the Scotland check is applied on top.
How is CapExpand paid?
We will receive commission from lenders. Different lenders pay different amounts depending on different commission models. For transparency we work with varying commission models including fixed fee, fixed rate of commission and percentage of the amount you borrow. Further details of the commission model, calculation and amount will be disclosed to you throughout your customer journey. All lending is subject to status and the lender's own checks.
Do you work with sole traders in Aberdeen?
No. We arrange finance for UK limited companies and LLPs only, so we cannot take a sole trader or partnership enquiry forward. Companies registered in Scotland qualify on the same footing as English ones.
Start an Aberdeen funding enquiry
Two minutes on the form, then a call from the named case handler who will run it. Enquiring does not affect your credit score. If you apply to a lender, it runs its own credit search, which may be recorded on your file. We read your figures against what each lender publishes and put the case only to the lenders whose published criteria it meets, once you have said so.
Start the formFirms in Aberdeen that invoice other businesses on terms have their own page: invoice finance in Aberdeen.
Sources and references
Aberdeen figures were read on 21 September 2026. Nomis and the Scottish Government count on different bases, so each figure is quoted as its source publishes it and the two are never combined.
- ONS, UK business: activity, size and location 2025 (24 September 2025)
- Nomis dataset NM_142_1 (UK Business Counts 2025), Aberdeen City enterprises by SIC division, via the Nomis API
- Scottish Government, Businesses in Scotland: 2025, local authority areas (3 December 2025)
- Scottish Government, City Region and Growth Deals, Aberdeen City Region Deal
- ETZ Ltd, the Energy Transition Zone
- British Business Bank, Nations and Regions Tracker 2025, devolved nations briefing notes (PDF)
- Bank of England, Agents’ summary of business conditions, September 2026
- Companies House: CapExpand Ltd 14433858
CapExpand Ltd (FRN 1060885) is a credit broker and an Appointed Representative of White Rose Finance Group Limited (FRN 630772), which is directly authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are a broker, not a lender. We work with UK limited companies and LLPs only, for business and commercial purposes. We do not provide financial advice.