The 2026 UK Business Landscape and Growth Strategies

Trading organizations were asked how their turnover in January 2026 compared with December 2025, omitting any seasonal trading. Data are plotted in the middle of the period of each wave. Nearly a third (31%) of trading organizations reported that their turnover had reduced in January 2026 compared with 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 markets with the greatest percentage reporting that turnover reduced in January 2026 were: the lodging and food service activities market (52%, which is a 21 portion point rise from December 2025) the other services industry (45%) the arts, entertainment and leisure industry (40%) Roughly 16% of trading organizations reported that their turnover increased in January 2026, which was a 3 percentage point boost compared to December 2025.

For trading services with 10 or more staff members, 33% reported that their turnover had actually decreased, which was broadly stable compared with December and January 2025. More than one in 5 (23%) companies reported that their turnover had actually increased, up 2 percentage points compared with December 2025. Normally, the percentage of services reporting that their turnover increased correlated to the size of business.

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

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Although patterns between anticipated turnover and real turnover have actually broadly moved in the exact same instructions, the motions for expectations tend to be larger. For presentational purposes, some action options have 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 workers responding on behalf of companies might not have complete oversight of all of their service's future expectations.

ANSR July UK PRs

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

Nevertheless, the patterns have broadly followed each other given that the questions were introduced in April 2022. The outcomes for March 2026 follow the pattern from previous years, with the portion of services expecting turnover to increase peaking after a decrease in January. Bigger companies were most likely to expect a boost in turnover in March, with the proportion ranging from 20% for businesses with 0 to 9 staff members, to 42% for organizations with 100 to 249 workers.

For presentational functions, some action alternatives have been eliminated. Data are plotted in the middle of the period of each wave.

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The percentage of trading services that expected a reduction in January 2026 was 25%, while the percentage that reported an actual reduction in turnover in January 2026 was 31%. The proportion of businesses anticipating turnover to decrease for a particular month ahead of time has actually remained considerably lower than the percentage of businesses reporting an actual decrease because month given that April 2022.

However, expectations for turnover to reduce have consistently followed the same trend, as actual reported turnover reduces throughout this time. Trading companies were asked what obstacles, if any, were impacting their turnover in early February 2026. Around 3 in 10 (30%) trading services reported that financial unpredictability was having an influence on their turnover, which was broadly steady with early January 2026.

For trading companies with 10 or more staff members, cost of labour was the most frequently reported obstacle, at 36%. Businesses with 10 to 49 employees were more most likely to report cost of labour as a difficulty than businesses with 250 or more staff members (37%, compared with 20%). One in 5 (20%) trading companies with 10 or more employees showed that they were not presently experiencing any turnover difficulties in early February 2026.