It’s easy to look at the business headlines and come away with a fairly gloomy picture.
Costs remain challenging, economic uncertainty hasn’t disappeared and many business owners have spent the last few years adapting to one change after another.
But look beyond the headlines and there is another story worth telling.
UK SMEs remain remarkably resilient.
SMEs remain the backbone of UK business
At the start of 2025, there were an estimated 5.7 million private-sector businesses in the UK, with SMEs accounting for virtually all of them.
Together, SMEs employed almost 17 million people and generated approximately £2.83 trillion in turnover.
Those aren’t the numbers of a marginal part of the economy. They demonstrate just how important owner-managed and privately owned businesses remain to the UK.
And businesses are still being created.
ONS figures show that 79,325 businesses were added to the UK’s business register during the second quarter of 2026 — 2.2% more than during the same period in 2025.
Businesses continue to adapt
Perhaps the more interesting story isn’t simply how many businesses exist, but how they’re changing.
SME owners have spent recent years dealing with inflation, rising costs, changing consumer behaviour, new technology and economic uncertainty.
Many have responded by becoming leaner, more efficient and more focused.
Technology is playing an increasing role too.
The UK Business Data Survey found that 86% of businesses were handling digitised data in 2025–26, rising to 92% among microbusinesses.
And the Government’s SME Digital Adoption Taskforce has set an ambition for UK SMEs to become the most digitally capable and AI-confident in the G7 by 2035.
For business owners, the opportunity isn’t necessarily about adopting every new piece of technology.
It’s about asking a much simpler question:
Can technology make this business easier to run, more profitable and less dependent on me?
For an owner thinking about selling one day, that can be a particularly important question.
Good businesses can still grow in uncertain markets
The Bank of England’s September 2026 assessment reported improving output and business confidence in some sectors, alongside a modest improvement in investment intentions.
That doesn’t mean every sector is booming.
Far from it.
But it does demonstrate something business owners already know: there is rarely one single UK business market.
Some sectors struggle while others grow. Some businesses lose customers while their competitors gain them. And periods of change often create opportunities for well-run businesses.
That’s why the quality of an individual business matters so much.
Buyers don’t only buy booming markets
This is particularly relevant for owners thinking about selling.
A buyer isn’t simply buying “the UK economy”.
They’re buying a specific business.
They will look at its customers, profits, people, management, systems, reputation, intellectual property, contracts and future opportunities.
A business can therefore be attractive to potential buyers even when the wider economic picture is uncertain.
At Intelligent, some of the characteristics we believe are particularly important to consider include:
sustainable profitability;
recurring or predictable revenue;
a diverse customer base;
an experienced management team;
low dependency on the owner;
good financial information;
evidence of growth opportunities;
established systems and processes.
Not every business will have all of them.
But importantly, many are things an owner can influence.
2026 isn’t just about weathering the storm
For business owners, it’s tempting to put major decisions on hold while waiting for the “right” economic conditions.
The problem is that perfect conditions rarely arrive.
A more useful approach can be to concentrate on building a better business.
Improve the margins.
Strengthen the management team.
Reduce reliance on one customer.
Develop recurring revenue.
Document the processes.
Invest sensibly in technology.
Understand the numbers.
And gradually make the business less dependent on its owner.
Those actions can help a business today.
They can also make it considerably more attractive when the time eventually comes to sell.
Build value before you need it
You don’t have to be planning to sell your business next month to start thinking about its value.
In fact, understanding what drives value several years before a potential sale can give you something much more useful: time to do something about it.
That might mean addressing customer concentration, developing your management team, improving recurring revenue or simply understanding how a prospective buyer would view the business today.
2026 continues to present challenges for UK businesses.
But it also continues to demonstrate the adaptability and resilience of the people running them.
For good businesses — and owners prepared to keep improving them — there are still plenty of reasons to look forward with confidence.
What could your business be worth?
If you’re thinking about selling now, or simply want to understand how the decisions you’re making today could affect the future value of your business, Intelligent can help.
Why not start by using our free, confidential Business Calculator