Taylor Woodrow has made an offer to buy Wilson Connolly for £480 million. Both firms are top ten housebuilders and the combined group will build around 10,000 homes a year, the third biggest in the country. Taywood said it would continue to operate out of 10 regional offices and a single head office - job losses are inevitable. Commenting on the deal Taylor Woodrow chairman Norman Askew said: "The acquisition allows us to achieve improved geographical coverage and due to the excellent fit of the two business, be well balanced between our operating regions." Both companies today announced their interim results for the period to June 30 2003- TayWood's pre-tax profits were up 20% to £130.1 million while Wilson Connolly's pre-tax profits rose 58% to £30.2 million shrugging off the disappoiuntments of recent years.