SHARE OF THE WEEK: Analysts expect 888 to report pre-tax profit of £26m for full year

All eyes turn to gambling stocks next week with 888 reporting on Wednesday.

Analysts are expecting the firm to report revenue of £1.71billion and pre-tax profit of £26m for the full year.

Reportedly 888, which owns the Mr Green and William Hill brands, last summer rejected a bid worth about £700m from Playtech, another London-listed gambling company. 

888’s market value is just under £360m.

And investors will be keen to hear about any other bids that might have been made.

Just a day later and FTSE 100 listed Flutter, which owns Paddy Power and Betfair, will release its last update before its shares start trading in New York, something it hopes can help the company tap into funding from the US market.

Flutter will take its shares to the US markets on the last Monday of January.

The company has said that its New York Stock Exchange listing will not impact its inclusion in the FTSE 100, adding that it wants to recognise that about 40 per cent of the company’s revenue now comes from the US.

American investors will be familiar with the company’s FanDuel subsidiary which offers bets on the biggest sports leagues, horse racing and online casinos. ‘We expect increased demand and solid trading to drive up the shares,’ Ivor Jones and Douglas Jack at Peel Hunt said last month.

In December the Peel Hunt analysts upgraded Flutter’s shares from hold to buy, saying they expect shares to reach 16,000p. They were trading at about 12,800p on Friday.