Smaller, privately held companies are seeing a significantslowdown in their rate of sales growth, according to data fromresearch firm Sageworks.

After two years of strong sales growth at around 7%, small U.S.companies are experiencing the slowest rate of sales growth sincethe recession, according to Sageworks in Raleigh, N.C.

That growth rate is at less than 1% so far this year. Sageworks noted that 2013's numbers are year-to-date estimatesand are subject to revision.

The firm also discovered that sales growth for businesses withless than $5 million in annual sales is virtually non-existent sofar in 2013.

While profit margins are healthy for now, they may be difficultto sustain if sales growth does not increase, according toSageworks.

“This slowdown in the rate of sales growth does not bode wellfor small business hiring,” the firm said. “Smallbusinesses were reluctant to hire when they were growing salesat a rate of 7%.”

Meanwhile, smaller manufacturing, wholesale and retail companiesare seeing a sales contraction in 2013 to date, Sageworks said.

The firm said it possesses a proprietary database of privatelyheld company financial statements aggregated by industry. Each day,approximately 1,000 of these financial statements are collected bySageworks from accounting firms, banks, and credit unions through acooperative data model with the firm's clients, Sageworks said.