A RICHMOND businessman who bought a pharmaceutical journal for £2,000 in 1976 has sold the publishing empire he built around the magazine for £150m.

Philip Brown - a pharmacist by trade - has sold his business, PJB Publishing, to Informa, the exhibitions organiser and trade magazine publisher.

Speaking as he awaited final approval on the sale, due on December 22, Mr Brown, who has a PHD in organic chemistry from Cambridge, said: "It will be nice not to have to worry about the day to day running of the business."

The 67-year-old hopes to be able to take life a little easier now by taking a consulting role with the company's new owners. He also hopes he will be able to enjoy the time he spends working as chairman of the Richmond and Twickenham Music Trust, saying: "I like to get involved as much as I can with local activities." PJB was established when Mr Brown's employers advertising group J Walter and Thompson (JWT) sold him Scrip - a publication produced by the Delta Kos division within which he worked.

"We were already in Richmond with Delta Kos," said Mr Brown when asked about the location of his company's offices. "It was very convenient because a lot of people lived in and around Richmond."

The offices in which PJB Publishing was first launched - 18 to 20 Hill Rise, Richmond - remain the main administration offices although over the last 25 years they have expanded both in Richmond and internationally to New York and Tokyo.

"There are 220 people employed in Richmond," said Mr Brown, who has sold both the buildings and the company to Informa.

PJB publications will continue as a publications company. They provide business to business information for the international health care industry and agricultural chemicals, including health care for both humans and vets and information on hospital devices and equipment, in magazine, newsletter and online form.

The decision to sell the business was, according to Mr Brown, down to changes in the business to business information area.

"We were looking around for some form of collaborative deals," explained Mr Brown. "In discussions with Informa the question came up would we sell to them. It is a great synergy for PJB and very much what we were looking for."

Informa have the contacts needed for PJB to continue making waves in the publishing world.'' l More business news in Business Times - page 15.