They say revenge is a dish best eaten cold and yesterday Michael Williams, who suddenly resigned as chief executive of Freecom.net on Wednesday, appeared to be putting the old cliche to the test.

An official stock exchange statement said the outspoken Mr Williams sold 1m Freecom shares on the day of his departure. Paradoxically, Freecom shares rose 14% after his resignation.

While Freecom maintained the departure was amicable, dealers are not so sure. They point out that Mr Williams had come in for fierce criticism from the City over the handling of the Oneview.net acquisition and the slump in Freecom's share price since March.

With Mr Williams still holding a 2.39% - or 2.4m shares - stake in the company, dealers believe further selling cannot be ruled out. This is likely to affect the shares - down 1p to 56.5p yesterday - in the short term.