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Trading services were asked how their turnover in January 2026 compared with December 2025, omitting any seasonal trading. Information are plotted in the middle of the period of each wave. Almost a 3rd (31%) of trading services 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 small falls in January. The industries with the greatest percentage reporting that turnover reduced in January 2026 were: the accommodation and food service activities market (52%, which is a 21 percentage point rise from December 2025) the other services market (45%) the arts, home entertainment and recreation market (40%) Roughly 16% of trading businesses reported that their turnover increased in January 2026, which was a 3 portion point boost compared with December 2025.
For trading organizations with 10 or more staff members, 33% reported that their turnover had actually decreased, which was broadly steady compared to December and January 2025. More than one in 5 (23%) services reported that their turnover had actually increased, up 2 portion points compared with December 2025. Typically, the proportion of services reporting that their turnover increased correlated to the size of business.
The exception to this was the percentage for organizations with 250 or more employees, which was 25%, and 5 percentage points lower than December 2025 (30%). Trading services were asked how they expect their turnover to alter in the coming month. This can then be utilized to anticipate how the business's turnover will really change once that calendar month concludes.
Although patterns in between predicted turnover and actual turnover have broadly moved in the very same direction, the movements for expectations tend to be larger. For presentational purposes, some reaction alternatives have been removed. Information are outlined in the middle of the period of each wave. Caution needs to be taken when analyzing expectations questions, as the employees responding on behalf of companies may not have full oversight of all of their organization's future expectations.
More than one in 5 (21%) trading services expect their turnover to increase in March 2026. This is a 6 percentage point increase from February 2026 however was broadly steady compared with expectations for March 2025 (22%). The percentage of trading companies expecting an increase in January 2026 was 13%, while the proportion that reported a real boost in turnover in January 2026 was 16%, recommending a slight pessimism in organizations expectations.
However, the patterns have actually broadly followed each other considering that the concerns were introduced in April 2022. The results for March 2026 follow the pattern from previous years, with the portion of businesses anticipating turnover to increase peaking after a reduction in January. Larger services were most likely to anticipate a boost in turnover in March, with the percentage ranging from 20% for companies with 0 to 9 employees, to 42% for businesses with 100 to 249 employees.
For presentational functions, some action choices have actually been eliminated. Information are outlined in the middle of the period of each wave. Care needs to be taken when interpreting expectations concerns, as the employees responding on behalf of businesses may not have complete oversight of all of their company's future expectations. "." represents information not yet available.
The proportion of trading organizations that expected a decrease in January 2026 was 25%, while the proportion that reported a real decline in turnover in January 2026 was 31%. The proportion of services anticipating turnover to reduce for a particular month ahead of time has remained substantially lower than the proportion of companies reporting an actual reduction because month given that April 2022.
However, expectations for turnover to reduce have regularly followed the same pattern, as actual reported turnover decreases throughout this time. Trading organizations were asked what challenges, if any, were affecting their turnover in early February 2026. Around 3 in 10 (30%) trading companies reported that financial unpredictability was having an impact on their turnover, which was broadly stable with early January 2026.
For trading companies with 10 or more workers, cost of labour was the most frequently reported challenge, at 36%. Businesses with 10 to 49 staff members were more most likely to report expense of labour as an obstacle than organizations with 250 or more staff members (37%, compared with 20%). One in five (20%) trading organizations with 10 or more staff members showed that they were not currently experiencing any turnover obstacles in early February 2026.
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