Friday preview: William Hill, Rank Group

Ladbrokes weighed in Thursday with its third quarter trading update and on Friday it will be the turn of perennial rival William Hill to report on its progress down the back straight.Panmure Gordon is expecting a resilient performance despite a higher than usual number of race meeting cancellations during the reporting period; better than expected football results will help offset this."The next catalysts will be the outcome of the approach to Sportingbet and whether or not the group elects to exercise its call option to acquire Playtech's shareholding in William Hill Online," the broker said.Sticking with the gambling theme, casinos operator Rank Group will give an interim management statement covering the third quarter of 2012 - the second quarter of its financial year.The group is still reeling from its proposed acquisition of Gala Casinos being referred to the Competition Commission back in August. INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAZ Electronic Materials SA (DI), Barr (A.G.), Bilfinger Berger Global Infrastructure Sicav S.A.(DI), Christie Group, Computacenter, CRH, G4S, Glanbia, International Public Partnerships Ltd., John Laing Infrastructure Fund Ltd, Melrose, Networkers International, Petrofac Ltd., Playtech Ltd., Robert Walters, Serco Group, Total Produce, Treatt, Tribal Group, Witan Pacific Inv TrustINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBalance of Payments (EU) (09:00)Balance of Trade (EU) (10:00)Current Account (EU) (09:00)Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00)Producer Price Index (GER) (07:00)Q3Schlumberger Ltd.IMSSAggreko, Petrofac Ltd., Provident Financial, Rank Group, William HillSPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEHighland Gold Mining Ltd.AGMSArgos Resources Ltd. (DI), Brooks Macdonald Group, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, PME African Infrastructure OpportunitiesUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSPublic Sector Finances (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATECity of London Investment Group, Dart Group, TP70 2008 (I) VCT, TP70 2008 (II) VCT, Tricorn Group, Utilico Investments Ltd (DI)JH Rank Group Plc