Experian, the world’s biggest credit-checking company, said it was “part of the cure for the credit crisis” on Wednesday after reporting resilient half-year results that sent its share price up 7 per cent.

The company announced a 3 per cent rise in revenues from the businesses it also ran last year that, along with increased sales from acquisitions, contributed to an increase in group turnover from $1.79bn to $2.1bn. Pre-tax profit rose from $270m to $318m.