Reviewing International Trade Reports for British Industry

Trading organizations were asked how their turnover in January 2026 compared to December 2025, excluding any seasonal trading. Data are plotted in the middle of the period of each wave. Nearly a third (31%) of trading businesses reported that their turnover had decreased in January 2026 compared to the previous month.

The motions 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 highest percentage reporting that turnover decreased in January 2026 were: the accommodation and food service activities industry (52%, which is a 21 percentage point rise from December 2025) the other services market (45%) the arts, entertainment and recreation industry (40%) Approximately 16% of trading organizations reported that their turnover increased in January 2026, which was a 3 percentage point increase compared with December 2025.

For trading services with 10 or more employees, 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 increased, up 2 portion points compared with December 2025. Generally, the proportion of services reporting that their turnover increased associated to the size of the business.

The exception to this was the proportion for companies 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 business's turnover will really change when that calendar month concludes.

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Patterns in between expected turnover and real turnover have actually broadly moved in the same direction, the movements for expectations tend to be larger. Caution must be taken when interpreting expectations questions, as the staff members reacting on behalf of businesses may not have complete oversight of all of their company's future expectations.

ANSR July UK PRs

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

The trends have broadly followed each other because the concerns were presented in April 2022. The results for March 2026 follow the pattern from previous years, with the portion of services expecting turnover to increase peaking after a decline in January. Bigger businesses were most likely to anticipate a boost in turnover in March, with the proportion varying from 20% for services with 0 to 9 staff members, to 42% for services with 100 to 249 workers.

For presentational purposes, some action alternatives have been eliminated. Data are plotted in the middle of the period of each wave. Caution needs to be taken when interpreting expectations concerns, as the workers reacting on behalf of companies may not have complete oversight of all of their service's future expectations. "." represents information not yet readily available.

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The proportion of trading services that expected a decline in January 2026 was 25%, while the proportion that reported an actual decrease in turnover in January 2026 was 31%. The proportion of businesses expecting turnover to reduce for a particular month ahead of time has stayed substantially lower than the proportion of companies reporting a real reduction in that month because April 2022.

However, expectations for turnover to decrease have regularly followed the very same trend, as real reported turnover decreases throughout this time. Trading businesses were asked what obstacles, if any, were affecting their turnover in early February 2026. Around 3 in 10 (30%) trading companies reported that financial unpredictability was having an influence on their turnover, which was broadly steady with early January 2026.

For trading organizations with 10 or more workers, cost of labour was the most often reported challenge, at 36%. Services with 10 to 49 staff members were more most likely to report expense of labour as an obstacle than businesses with 250 or more employees (37%, compared with 20%). One in 5 (20%) trading companies with 10 or more staff members showed that they were not currently experiencing any turnover difficulties in early February 2026.