Small firms recover

Small businesses edge back to health Analysis of business records by Xero has found that small businesses are gradually seeing their sales move back toward pre-pandemic levels. However, while results for hospitality were the most promising since August 2020, sales have been slow to rebound and jobs remain down over 20% year-on-year. In contrast, retail and the information media and telecommunications sector reported healthy growth. Gary Turner, managing director at Xero, said: “Small firms have still got a fair way to go to get back to 2019 growth, but this data shows that recovery is underway.”