Sustainable Finance and Green Supply Chains Shaping Strategy

Trading companies were asked how their turnover in January 2026 compared with December 2025, omitting any seasonal trading. Information are outlined in the middle of the duration of each wave. Nearly a third (31%) of trading businesses reported that their turnover had reduced in January 2026 compared to the previous month.

However, the movements are broadly in line with those observed around this time in previous years, with peaks in December followed by small falls in January. The markets with the highest proportion reporting that turnover reduced in January 2026 were: the lodging and food service activities industry (52%, which is a 21 percentage point rise from December 2025) the other services industry (45%) the arts, entertainment and leisure industry (40%) Roughly 16% of trading businesses reported that their turnover increased in January 2026, which was a 3 percentage point increase compared to December 2025.

For trading services with 10 or more staff members, 33% reported that their turnover had reduced, which was broadly steady compared with December and January 2025. More than one in 5 (23%) businesses reported that their turnover had actually increased, up 2 portion points compared to December 2025. Usually, the proportion of businesses reporting that their turnover increased associated to the size of the service.

The exception to this was the proportion for businesses with 250 or more workers, which was 25%, and 5 portion points lower than December 2025 (30%). Trading companies were asked how they expect their turnover to alter in the coming month. This can then be utilized to forecast how business's turnover will really alter once that calendar month concludes.

ESG Finance and Ethical Supply Chains Shaping Strategy

Trends between expected turnover and actual turnover have broadly moved in the exact same instructions, the movements for expectations tend to be bigger. For presentational functions, some response choices have actually been removed. Information are plotted in the middle of the duration of each wave. Caution should be taken when interpreting expectations concerns, as the staff members responding on behalf of businesses might not have complete oversight of all of their organization's future expectations.

ANSR July UK PRs

More than one in five (21%) trading businesses expect their turnover to increase in March 2026. This is a 6 portion point increase from February 2026 but was broadly steady compared to expectations for March 2025 (22%). The percentage of trading services anticipating a boost in January 2026 was 13%, while the proportion that reported an actual increase in turnover in January 2026 was 16%, suggesting a slight pessimism in services expectations.

The trends have broadly followed each other considering that the questions were introduced in April 2022. The results for March 2026 follow the pattern from previous years, with the percentage of organizations anticipating turnover to increase peaking after a reduction in January. Larger services were more likely to expect a boost in turnover in March, with the percentage varying from 20% for organizations with 0 to 9 workers, to 42% for services with 100 to 249 workers.

For presentational purposes, some reaction choices have actually been removed. Data are outlined in the middle of the duration of each wave. Caution needs to be taken when translating expectations concerns, as the staff members reacting on behalf of services might not have complete oversight of all of their service's future expectations. "." represents information not yet available.

Sustainable Finance and Ethical Supply Chains Shaping Strategy

The percentage of trading services 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 expecting turnover to reduce for a specific month ahead of time has actually remained considerably lower than the proportion of businesses reporting an actual decline in that month since April 2022.

Nevertheless, expectations for turnover to reduce have regularly followed the same trend, as real reported turnover reduces throughout this time. Trading organizations were asked what obstacles, if any, were affecting their turnover in early February 2026. Around 3 in 10 (30%) trading services reported that economic unpredictability was having an effect on their turnover, which was broadly steady with early January 2026.

For trading services with 10 or more employees, cost of labour was the most often reported challenge, at 36%. Businesses with 10 to 49 employees were more most likely to report cost of labour as a challenge than companies with 250 or more staff members (37%, compared with 20%). One in 5 (20%) trading services with 10 or more employees suggested that they were not currently experiencing any turnover obstacles in early February 2026.