Experian reckons to have spotted the upturn in UK consumer spending as long ago as the end of 2012, and a similar improvement in the United States slightly before that. This would not be surprising: the company provides credit checks to financial institutions, and, plainly, the more people seek loans to buy cars or whatever, the more goes through its books.
The latest financial year to the end of March, though, was a sluggish one. Organic revenue growth, the measure the company prefers, returned only in the fourth quarter, to 3 per cent after a flat outturn in the three previous quarters.
For the year as a whole, North America, the largest business, saw a fall of 2 per cent. Latin America, which has been