Taylor Wimpey turns corner with £75 million profit

Taylor Wimpey put a torrid three years for the housebuilding industry behind it today with its first annual profit, but it expects few fireworks from a stagnant UK property market this year.

The company, formed by a mega-merger at the peak of the boom in 2007, which saddled it with debts of £2 billion, completed a refinancing at the end of last year and is selling its US operations to focus on the domestic market.

Pre-tax profits of £75.1 million topped City hopes and improved on 2009's £96.1 million loss.

Chief executive Pete Redfern said he was "pleasantly surprised" by trading since the new year but expects the market to remain "relatively flat" in 2011.

Average selling prices were up 6.9% to £171,000 in 2010.