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Trading companies were asked how their turnover in January 2026 compared with December 2025, excluding any seasonal trading. Information are outlined in the middle of the period of each wave. Almost a 3rd (31%) of trading organizations reported that their turnover had actually reduced in January 2026 compared to the previous month.
The movements are broadly in line with those observed around this time in previous years, with peaks in December followed by little falls in January. The industries with the highest proportion reporting that turnover reduced in January 2026 were: the accommodation and food service activities industry (52%, which is a 21 portion point rise from December 2025) the other services market (45%) the arts, home entertainment and recreation industry (40%) Approximately 16% of trading services reported that their turnover increased in January 2026, which was a 3 percentage point increase compared with December 2025.
For trading companies with 10 or more workers, 33% reported that their turnover had actually decreased, which was broadly stable compared to December and January 2025. More than one in 5 (23%) organizations reported that their turnover had increased, up 2 portion points compared with December 2025. Typically, the proportion of companies reporting that their turnover increased associated to the size of business.
The exception to this was the percentage for organizations with 250 or more employees, which was 25%, and 5 portion points lower than December 2025 (30%). Trading organizations were asked how they expect their turnover to change in the coming month. This can then be used to anticipate how business's turnover will in fact change when that calendar month concludes.
Although patterns in between anticipated turnover and real turnover have broadly relocated the exact same instructions, the motions for expectations tend to be bigger. For presentational purposes, some reaction choices have been removed. Information are plotted in the middle of the duration of each wave. Caution must be taken when analyzing expectations concerns, as the staff members responding on behalf of organizations may not have full oversight of all of their service's future expectations.
More than one in five (21%) trading services anticipate their turnover to increase in March 2026. This is a 6 portion point rise from February 2026 but was broadly steady compared to expectations for March 2025 (22%). The proportion of trading services expecting a boost in January 2026 was 13%, while the proportion that reported a real increase in turnover in January 2026 was 16%, suggesting a small pessimism in businesses expectations.
The patterns have actually broadly followed each other considering that the concerns were introduced in April 2022. The outcomes for March 2026 follow the pattern from previous years, with the percentage of organizations anticipating turnover to increase peaking after a decrease in January. Bigger services were more likely to anticipate a boost in turnover in March, with the proportion varying from 20% for organizations with 0 to 9 employees, to 42% for businesses with 100 to 249 workers.
For presentational functions, some response options have been eliminated. Data are outlined in the middle of the duration of each wave. Care must be taken when analyzing expectations concerns, as the workers reacting on behalf of companies may not have full oversight of all of their company's future expectations. "." represents information not yet offered.
ESG Finance and Global Supply Chain StrategyThe percentage of trading businesses that expected a reduction in January 2026 was 25%, while the percentage that reported an actual decline in turnover in January 2026 was 31%. The proportion of organizations anticipating turnover to reduce for a specific month ahead of time has actually stayed considerably lower than the percentage of organizations reporting a real decrease in that month given that April 2022.
However, expectations for turnover to decrease have regularly followed the exact same pattern, as actual reported turnover decreases throughout this time. Trading companies were asked what obstacles, if any, were affecting their turnover in early February 2026. Around 3 in 10 (30%) trading companies reported that financial unpredictability was having an influence on their turnover, which was broadly steady with early January 2026.
For trading organizations with 10 or more workers, cost of labour was the most often reported challenge, at 36%. Businesses with 10 to 49 employees were more likely to report cost of labour as a difficulty than organizations with 250 or more staff members (37%, compared with 20%). One in 5 (20%) trading businesses with 10 or more workers showed that they were not presently experiencing any turnover difficulties in early February 2026.
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