Sustainable Mandates and Ethical Supply Networks Shaping Strategy

Trading companies were asked how their turnover in January 2026 compared to December 2025, omitting any seasonal trading. Information are plotted in the middle of the duration of each wave. Almost a third (31%) of trading organizations reported that their turnover had actually decreased 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 little falls in January. The industries with the greatest proportion reporting that turnover decreased in January 2026 were: the lodging and food service activities market (52%, which is a 21 portion point increase from December 2025) the other services industry (45%) the arts, entertainment and leisure industry (40%) Approximately 16% of trading services reported that their turnover increased in January 2026, which was a 3 portion point increase compared with December 2025.

For trading companies with 10 or more workers, 33% reported that their turnover had decreased, which was broadly steady compared to December and January 2025. More than one in five (23%) companies reported that their turnover had actually increased, up 2 portion points compared with December 2025. Normally, the percentage of organizations reporting that their turnover increased associated to the size of business.

The exception to this was the percentage for companies with 250 or more staff members, which was 25%, and 5 portion points lower than December 2025 (30%). Trading companies were asked how they expect their turnover to change in the coming month. This can then be used to predict how business's turnover will in fact change when that calendar month concludes.

Reviewing International Trade Reports for UK Firms

Patterns in between expected turnover and real turnover have broadly moved in the exact same direction, the movements for expectations tend to be larger. Caution must be taken when interpreting expectations questions, as the workers responding on behalf of services may not have full oversight of all of their business's future expectations.

ANSR July UK PRs

More than one in five (21%) trading companies anticipate their turnover to increase in March 2026. This is a 6 percentage point rise from February 2026 however was broadly steady compared with expectations for March 2025 (22%). The proportion of trading organizations anticipating a boost in January 2026 was 13%, while the percentage that reported an actual increase in turnover in January 2026 was 16%, suggesting a small pessimism in organizations expectations.

However, the trends have actually broadly followed each other given that the concerns were presented in April 2022. The results for March 2026 follow the pattern from previous years, with the portion of businesses expecting turnover to increase peaking after a reduction in January. Bigger organizations were most likely to anticipate an increase in turnover in March, with the proportion ranging from 20% for services with 0 to 9 staff members, to 42% for businesses with 100 to 249 employees.

For presentational functions, some reaction options have been removed. Data are plotted in the middle of the period of each wave.

UK Capital Market Shifts Impactful for Corporate Finance

The proportion of trading companies that anticipated a decrease in January 2026 was 25%, while the proportion that reported a real decrease in turnover in January 2026 was 31%. The proportion of companies anticipating turnover to reduce for a specific month ahead of time has actually stayed significantly lower than the percentage of services reporting an actual reduction because month since April 2022.

Expectations for turnover to reduce have consistently followed the very same trend, as actual reported turnover reduces throughout this time. Trading organizations were asked what difficulties, if any, were impacting their turnover in early February 2026. Around 3 in 10 (30%) trading businesses reported that economic unpredictability was having an effect on their turnover, which was broadly stable with early January 2026.

This is broadly steady compared to early January 2026 and 2 percentage points down compared with a year earlier. For trading companies with 10 or more staff members, cost of labour was the most regularly reported challenge, at 36%. This was broadly steady compared with early January 2026. Services with 10 to 49 workers were most likely to report cost of labour as an obstacle than services with 250 or more workers (37%, compared with 20%). One in five (20%) trading services with 10 or more workers showed that they were not presently experiencing any turnover obstacles in early February 2026. Additional details on monetary performance, including all action choices categorised by market and size band, are offered in our accompanying dataset.