Hughes (pictured) had been at the helm of the group for a decade, but stepped down from his role as executive chairman at the end of June in the midst of a financial crisis that resulted in a suspension in trading of Photon shares on the Australian Stock Exchange.

The group faced a situation where it was unable to pay A$176m worth of earn-outs to the owners of agencies it had bought.

Photon embarked on a recapitalisation process to raise the necessary funds, and efforts are ongoing in that area, but earlier this month the group announced that it had renegotiated almost all of its payout liabilities, with agency founders agreeing to reduced cash settlements and shares in the group.