Optimal decay of semi-uniformly stable operator semigroups with empty spectrum

We show that it is impossible to quantify the decay rate of a semi-uniformly stable operator semigroup based on sole knowledge of the spectrum of its infinitesimal generator. More precisely, given an arbitrary positive function $r$ vanishing at $\infty$, we construct a Banach space $X$ and a bounded semigroup $(T(t))_{t \geq 0}$ of operators on it whose infinitesimal generator $A$ has empty spectrum $\sigma(A)=\varnothing$, but for which, for some $x \in X$, $$\limsup_{t\to\infty} \frac{\|T(t)A^{-1}x\|_{X}}{r(t)}=\infty.$$