1. Computacenter
Alter ego: David Beckham
What’s the heavily manufactured comparison? UK export made good in America
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Before taking the US by storm, Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham had already reached the top in his home market.
Nearly two decades years on, ‘Golden Balls’ has grown into one of our country’s most successful exports (recently being crowned the UK’s first billionaire sportsman).
But the rags-to-riches tale of this Chingford-boy-done-good has spooky parallels in the burgeoning British export success story that is Computacenter.
Having already achieved hero status in their home market, both have seen their fortunes soar into the stratosphere on the back of their US expansion moves. While Beckham bought Inter Miami in 2014, Computacenter has snapped up five North American IT solutions providers since 2018.
“We’re the largest VAR in California. I get a kick out of that,” Norris said at an event a couple of years back.
Having last month been inducted to the FTSE 100, Computacenter’s market value has risen in line with that of its free-kick-curling alter ego. With a market cap of £4.5bn, it is in fact currently four times richer than its Florida-dwelling, yoga-loving counterpart.
Double-take rating: *****
