Building Ethical Supply Networks Across UK Market

Trading companies were asked how their turnover in January 2026 compared to December 2025, excluding any seasonal trading. Information are outlined in the middle of the duration of each wave. Almost a 3rd (31%) of trading companies reported that their turnover had 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 small falls in January. The markets with the greatest proportion reporting that turnover reduced in January 2026 were: the accommodation and food service activities market (52%, which is a 21 portion point rise from December 2025) the other services market (45%) the arts, home entertainment and entertainment market (40%) Roughly 16% of trading companies reported that their turnover increased in January 2026, which was a 3 portion point boost compared to December 2025.

For trading businesses with 10 or more employees, 33% reported that their turnover had actually reduced, 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 percentage points compared with December 2025. Typically, the percentage of businesses reporting that their turnover increased correlated to the size of the company.

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

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Although patterns in between predicted turnover and real turnover have actually broadly relocated the very same instructions, the movements for expectations tend to be larger. For presentational functions, some reaction alternatives have been removed. Data are plotted in the middle of the period of each wave. Care needs to be taken when interpreting expectations questions, as the workers reacting on behalf of companies might not have full oversight of all of their service's future expectations.

ANSR July UK PRs

More than one in 5 (21%) trading businesses anticipate their turnover to increase in March 2026. This is a 6 portion point rise from February 2026 however was broadly steady compared to expectations for March 2025 (22%). The proportion of trading organizations expecting an increase in January 2026 was 13%, while the proportion that reported a real increase in turnover in January 2026 was 16%, recommending a minor pessimism in businesses expectations.

The patterns have 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 percentage of businesses expecting turnover to increase peaking after a decrease in January. Bigger businesses were more likely to anticipate an increase in turnover in March, with the proportion ranging from 20% for organizations with 0 to 9 workers, to 42% for services with 100 to 249 employees.

For presentational purposes, some reaction alternatives have actually been eliminated. Data are plotted in the middle of the period of each wave. Caution must be taken when analyzing expectations questions, as the staff members responding on behalf of organizations may not have complete oversight of all of their service's future expectations. "." represents data not yet available.

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The percentage of trading companies that expected a decline in January 2026 was 25%, while the percentage that reported a real decline in turnover in January 2026 was 31%. The proportion of organizations expecting turnover to reduce for a particular month ahead of time has stayed substantially lower than the proportion of companies reporting a real decline in that month given that April 2022.

Expectations for turnover to decrease have regularly followed the same pattern, as real reported turnover decreases throughout this time. Trading services were asked what obstacles, if any, were impacting their turnover in early February 2026. Around 3 in 10 (30%) trading organizations reported that financial unpredictability was having an impact on their turnover, which was broadly stable with early January 2026.

This is broadly stable compared to early January 2026 and 2 portion points down compared with a year ago. For trading companies with 10 or more employees, expense of labour was the most frequently reported difficulty, at 36%. This was broadly stable compared to early January 2026. Businesses with 10 to 49 employees were most likely to report cost of labour as a difficulty than services with 250 or more employees (37%, compared to 20%). One in five (20%) trading businesses with 10 or more staff members indicated that they were not presently experiencing any turnover obstacles in early February 2026. Further details on financial performance, consisting of all response choices categorised by market and size band, are readily available in our accompanying dataset.