Photon Names Melhuish as New CEO

Australian research and marcoms group Photon - which owns MR agencies The Leading Edge (TLE) and Jigsaw Research - has promoted Matthew Melhuish to the position of Chief Executive Officer, replacing Jeremy Philips who left in December.

Melhuish, who has more than 25 years' experience in the ad and marketing industry, most recently served as Photon's Head of Australian Agencies, responsible for the division representing half the group's revenues. He is the co-founder and former CEO of ad agency BMF, which was acquired by Photon for $25m back in 2007, and his new three-year remuneration package is worth an annual $800k plus incentives.

Photon Group Chairman Brian Bickmore comments: 'Matthew's experience founding and running the successful BMF agency, and his leadership of the Australian Agencies group at Photon have ideally prepared him to lead Photon in the next stage of its development. He has overseen the operations of key agencies such as BMF and BWM for 18 months, and his appointment will ensure continuity and a minimum of distractions for our businesses.'

Philips resigned after completing a restructure of the troubled company and reducing its debt from $450m to zero in less than 18 months. During his nearly two years in post, he also reduced the number of Photon companies from 45 to 14, with researchers TLE and Jigsaw among those remaining.

For the six months ending December 2011, Photon's net revenue was down 5% and earnings before interest fell 7.5%. The firm said in a statement that this is an improvement from its trading update at the end of the first quarter of FY 2012, when net revenue and earnings before interest were down 7% and 25% respectively.

Web site: www.photongroup.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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