You're partially right. The big question is how long it takes for the colony to go strong. Colonies were an absolute death trap for Europeans.
An a death trap is also a money trap. Even the Spanish were super disappointed until 1522 and were jealous of the Portuguese and their road to India.
I wonder if Brits or French would have the skills to get sugar plantations going: the Spanish had existing plantations from the XVth century
Both the French and the British would probably be willing to import foreign expertise to set up sugar plantations; the Spanish were somewhat unusual in their "absolutely no foreigners (including Aragonese) allowed" policy, which was more for ideological reasons (creating a pristine, Catholic utopia in the New World, uncontaminated by the corruption and heresy of the old).
The other big issue is where Columbus lands; OTL he landed in the Caribbean and lucked into finding some gold to justify his voyages. If he lands in North America, he may not, though if he can keep the "almost to China, promise" train going a bit longer, he can stretch out the funding long enough. Sugar would be a difficult choice to farm anywhere north of the extreme southern parts of the modern US, but furs/tobacco are possibilities as OTL (although less lucrative ones). And of course, if they can avoid jumping into expensive, unprofitable European wars, the English certainly have the economic base to support it.