It is rarely thrilling when a chief executive starts banging on about “resilience”. Translation: revenues may be flat, if you’re lucky, but trust us to pull enough levers on costs to keep profits intact. The R-word was sprinkled all over Experian’s first-quarter trading update on Thursday, as the UK-based credit-checker revealed organic growth of 1 per cent, slightly better than expectations. Shares bounced upwards, putting even greater distance between the company and its general financial peer group.

Is Experian as durable as the market thinks it is? About three-quarters of the group’s revenues depend on scoring credit in one form or another. Momentum is fading in its core markets of the US and the UK, where it nets three-quarters of sales: organic growth was 1 per cent year on year, down from 2 per cent in the second half last year. Strong trading in Latin America compensates, but not much: Serasa, the Brazilian credit bureau Experian bought last July, accounts for about a 10th of revenues.