At first glance, the Reserve Bank of Australia’s latest financial stability review suggests businesses are holding up pretty well, considering consumers have been battling cost-of-living pressures for quite some time. But appearances can be deceiving.

On the plus side, revenue growth has held up and profit margins for both large and small businesses are not much changed from a decade ago, according to the Reserve Bank’s analysis of both data and intel from its business liaison program. Higher labour costs, insurance, electricity, warehousing, logistics and rents have been offset by reasonable sales, cost-cutting (where it can be found) and the ability to raise prices.