New data from the ONS reveals 41% of transport & storage sector companies – including couriers, home delivery and logistics firms – report they have no main concerns for their businesses heading into January 2025.
The latest ONS Business Insights report reveals that, compared to any other industry, fewer transport & storage sector businesses have any main concerns for January 2025.
A huge 41.1% of all transport & storage businesses (the ONS category which includes logistics, parcels, haulage and warehousing companies) report they have ‘no concerns for my business’ for January 2025.
All other sectors anticipate a higher number of potential problems, says home delivery firm Parcelhero.
Its Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks says: "The transport & storage sector is the only one where over 40% of companies report no main concerns for the new year.
"The response is in stark contrast to their manufacturing and retail partners. Just 19.4% of manufacturing companies and 20.9% of retailers report no concerns entering January 2025."
The latest “Business insights and impact on the UK economy” report reveals only 11.6% of health & social services companies and 8.2% of other service companies have no main concerns entering the new year.
These sectors are polar opposites of the transport & storage sector, which is clearly far more confident about its immediate future.
But Mr Jinks said: "However, that’s not to say that all transport & storage businesses are wearing rose-tinted glasses. 10.3% of these companies responded that they are concerned about energy prices.
"Energy is of greater concern for the sector than it is for manufacturers (9.2%) or retailers (3.9%).
"The only other significant concern expressed by some transport & storage companies is the inflation of goods and services prices. 9.1% of the sector’s companies expressed concern surrounding inflation, though this is the same level as manufacturing and less than retailers’ concerns (10%).
"There are several areas of potential concern that are impacting other sectors but the vast majority of transport & storage companies are clearly not sweating over them."
Though the survey was held after the Government’s autumn budget - which announced a hefty hike in National Insurance employers’ contributions - only 2.1% of the sector’s companies are worried about taxation going into 2025, compared to 13.9% of manufacturers and 11.7% of retailers.
Likewise, only 6% of transport & storage firms are concerned about falling demand for their goods and services, compared to a very significant 25.5% of manufacturers and 22.3% of retailers.
Contrarily, transport & logistics companies are, in some ways, rather more pessimistic about their turnover prospects for January than their manufacturing and retail counterparts.
Just 3.4% of the sector’s companies expect their turnover to increase this month and 28.8% of firms believe it might actually decrease, compared to 14.3% of manufacturers and 17.7% of retailers who think their turnover will rise.
However, a greater number of manufacturing and retail companies expect their turnover will actually decrease this January, at 30.3% and 29.4% respectively.
Mr Jinks concluded: "Overall, a quarter (25%) of all trading businesses across all sectors report that they expect their turnover to decrease in January 2025, up 3% compared to December 2024. That’s not great news for UK plc as a whole.
"One certainty is that it will be those transport & storage companies supporting retailers with strong in-store and online sales that will ultimately triumph."