Long-term ownership
for small businesses.
An owner, not just a buyer.
Longfield Business Group was established by Andrew Ludlam to acquire and develop good small UK service businesses over the long term.
For more than a decade, Andrew’s work has centred on the finances and inner workings of small businesses — helping owners with business plans, commercial strategy, market analysis and financial forecasts. He has spent years getting to know, in detail, what makes a small service business viable and worth continuing: its customers, its numbers, its people and the quiet things that keep it running.
He also built and ran Choice Digital, an SEO and digital marketing business, so he understands first-hand what it takes to grow a company — and, in time, to think about what comes next.
That combination — an operator who has also spent years inside the finances of businesses like yours — is deliberately different from an anonymous acquirer or an investment fund. The conversation starts from understanding, not assumptions.
It has also created a particular interest in established owner-managed businesses with loyal customers and strong reputations, where the founder is ready to step back. Too often, good small businesses quietly disappear at that point — not because they had run their course, but because there was no one to hand them to who genuinely wanted to look after what had been built. Andrew’s aim is to be that kind of owner.
Longfield’s approach isn’t to assume it knows more about a business than the person who built it. Where specialist expertise is central to the service, the aim is to retain that expertise while providing the ownership, commercial support and investment required for the next stage.
Andrew Ludlam
Founder, Longfield Business Group
“Good businesses make a real difference – to their customers, their people and their local communities.”
Values that guide our approach
Respect for what you’ve built
Your reputation, customers and people matter.
A long-term perspective
We aim to build businesses over time, not buy and resell them quickly.
A practical, hands-on approach
We take a sensible commercial view and focus on what works.
Straightforward communication
Clear, honest communication throughout.