STOCK OF THE WEEK: Analysts expect 888 to report full-year pre-tax profits of £26m

All eyes will be on gambling stocks next week, with 888 reporting on Wednesday.

Analysts expect the company to report full-year sales of £1.71 billion and pre-tax profits of £26 million.

It is reported that 888, which owns the Mr Green and William Hill brands, rejected a bid worth around £700 million from Playtech, another London-listed gambling company, last summer.

The market value of 888 is just under £360 million.

And investors will be eager to hear about any other bids that may have been made.

Just a day later, FTSE 100-listed Flutter, owner of Paddy Power and Betfair, will release its latest update before its shares start trading in New York, something it hopes will help the company tap funding in the US market.

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

The company has said its listing on the New York Stock Exchange will not affect its inclusion in the FTSE 100, adding that it wants to recognize that around 40 percent of the company’s revenue now comes from the US.

US investors will be familiar with the company’s FanDuel subsidiary, which offers betting on the biggest sports leagues, horse racing and online casinos.

“We expect increased demand and solid trading to lift shares,” Peel Hunt’s Ivor Jones and Douglas Jack said last month.

In December, Peel Hunt analysts upgraded Flutter’s shares from hold to buy and said they expect the shares to reach a value of 16,000p. Flutter Shares were trading at around 12,800p on Friday.