World Duty Free’s share price, by last Friday, had slid down sharply by -11.3% to €7.74 from the week’s high of €8.73, on the back of large stock disposals from the company’s main shareholder Edizione.

Edizione, a holding company of the Benetton family, which until last Wednesday had a controlling interest of 59% in both WDF and the duty free and travel retailer’s former parent Autogrill, began a disposal programme that day to take its stake down to 50.1% in both companies, according to Reuters.

The news agency quoted Edizione as saying: “The transaction aims at increasing the liquidity of Autogrill and WDF shares in response to growing investor interest.”

The result of the share sell off – which drove high volumes of trading at the end of the week – has been an expected slide in the share prices of both companies. In WDF’s case, its Friday close of €7.74 (see chart) was lower that its first day’s close on 1 October of €7.90.