The annual Pennant small-firm survey is back, and the mood is the brightest we have recorded: 64 percent of owners expect revenue to grow this year, against 12 percent bracing for a decline. Services lead the optimism; hospitality trails but is climbing.

The engine is repeat business. Owners credit fuller books of returning customers rather than any flood of new ones — retention doing the quiet work that advertising promises loudly.

Hiring stays careful

Growth has not yet meant jobs. Only a third of growing firms plan to add staff before autumn, with most choosing overtime, contractors and software first. Wages for the roles they do fill are up, and owners complain — politely — about the bidding.

Optimism is spending its own money first and hiring with someone else's confidence.

What could spoil it

Two clouds: late payments stretching cash flow, and insurance costs climbing faster than prices can absorb. The firms most worried are the ones growing fastest — success, it turns out, eats cash.

Still, after lean years, a confident main street is news worth printing. The tills say it first.