Softcat gets the cream in Top VARs 2021

Marlow-based reseller crowned UK’s largest reseller

Softcat has narrowly edged out Computacenter as the UK's largest VAR, according to CRN Top VARs 2021.

Although Computacenter remains by far the largest UK-headquartered VAR/IT services outfit, with global revenues of £5.44bn, Softcat's gross invoiced income was almost £200m more than Computacenter's UK revenue figure in their last financial years.

Read the Top VARs 2021 PDF here, or view the Top VARs 2021 hub here. Alternatively, the individual profiles can be read here.

Softcat's top line has risen from £220m to nearly £2bn since CRN first launched Top VARs in 2011.

In that time, Computacenter has expanded internationally, making two blockbuster North American acquisitions in the shape of FusionStorm and Pivot.

But Softcat finally outstripped Computacenter's UK business in its fiscal year to 31 July 2021 (having missed out on top spot by just £60m last year).

Softcat, Computacenter and Bytes drive half of top 100's top-line growth

Softcat's GII rose 18 per cent to £1.94bn, while Computacenter's UK revenues hit £1.76bn a 12 per cent hike.

Unlike Softcat, Computacenter does not publicly disclose its GII, and was unable to break out a UK GII figure for us this year (last year the difference between its UK revenue and the GII number it shared with us was around £130m).

Softcat, Computacenter and Bytes drove almost half of the top 100's collective growth in their latest years.

The Top 100's total revenues/GII rose by seven per cent to £17.9bn, but without the contribution of this trio the growth rate slips to 3.7 per cent.

Read our exclusive Top VARs interview with Softcat CEO Graeme Watt here.