The combined group will have a landbank of more than 37,000 plots, which is equivalent to a building supply of 3.6 years.The takeover, including the debt, is the second largest in the UK housing industry.Taylor and Wilson also yesterday reported profits for the first six months of the year.Taylor's first-half profits before tax and amortisation rose 20 per cent to £130m, with turnover up 7 per cent at £1bn. "That is where the housing market does look a bit sticky."Following the acquisition, each of Taylor's existing regions will build 1,000 houses a year. Employment is high, interest rates are low and there is a shortage in new housing. While we are not going to see house prices rise as much as in 2002, that shortage will keep up a reasonable level of inflation," he said.Mr Napier said Wilson was "the best fit of all the UK house builders" for giving its presence a geographical boost in areas such as the North-west, the North-east and East Anglia."We both steer clear of London, however," Mr Napier said.

Land is becoming such a commodity," Ian Napier, the chief executive of Taylor, said yesterday."The fundamental economies of the house-building sector are very strong. Lynn Wilson, who acts as non-executive deputy chairman, is the only family member still involved with the company.The consolidation is being fuelled by a shortage in the housing market, which helped drive up house prices by 25 per cent last year."This deal addresses the issue of scale. He is to join the board of the enlarged company.The Wilson family, which owns 25 per cent of the company, will net £120m from the deal. The deal also includes £220m of debt."We attracted a very good price for the company and got the best deal for our shareholders. The deal values us at 11.7 times earnings, way above the industry average," Graeme McCallum, the chief executive of Wilson, said yesterday. Taylor Woodrow yesterday became the second-biggest house builder in the UK after agreeing to buy its rival Wilson Connolly in a deal worth £705m. The deal, however, will mean the loss of 300 jobs as Taylor plans to make £25m of cost savings each year.This is 6 per cent of the companies' combined workforce, and head office jobs are likely to be most affected.Taylorwill pay the equivalent of 233p in cash and shares for each Wilson share, valuing Wilson's equity at £485m. Severn Trent Water plans to increase prices by a comparatively modest 18 per cent; Thames Water expects to see its annual bills rise by 20 per cent from its current annual average household bill..

The planned expenditure would be met by a £101 rise in the average annual household bill to £379.Anglian's proposals follow last week's announcement by Northumbrian Water, which said it planned a 39 per cent rise in the average annual household bill from £206 in 2004/05 to £286 in 2009/10.WaterVoice Eastern, the independent water customers' watchdog for the Anglian region, said it would "look to Ofwat to set demanding efficiency targets for companies so that price increases are kept to a minimum".By the end of the week, Ofwat should have received all of the water companies' proposals and will begin the lengthy process of review and consultation.There would already appear to be some divergence in pricing proposals. To meet objectives of greater water quality and security of supply, Anglian yesterday announced plans to spend £2.7bn on upgrading its network.The company is under pressure to comply with recent and prospective legislation to improve water quality and this has added to the capital expenditure requirements of water operators. The draft plans form the initial stage of the water regulator Ofwat's five-yearly review of pricing limits for UK water companies. Both companies propose significant capital investment which would be paid for by the large hikes in customer charges. Anglian Water and Northumbrian Water have announced proposed water charge price rises of 36 per cent and 39 per cent respectively in real terms as part of their draft business plans for the five years from 2005. PMI benefits from being one of only three companies producing this kind of digital equipment in an ever-expanding market.The company was now seeing progress after a period of delays in rolling out key products, all of which made it unlikely that Mr Crasnianski would diminish his stake in the company at this time.. Robin Chhabra, an analyst at Evolution Beeson Gregory, said yesterday he would be surprised if the chief executive was to sell a significant shareholding now, given the group's improved prospects.Mr Chhabra expects the company to offer "strong and visible growth" in the next two to three years from its investment in digital technology.Many of the traditional automatic photobooths, in an increasingly mature market, were being transformed into self-service development kiosks for digital users. Its shares closed at 116p yesterday, having risen from lows of 14.5p last November.Although the shares received a further fillip last week when the broker Evolution Beeson Gregory revised up its target price for the shares from 125p to 157p, they arestill short of the 400p a share Mr Crasnianski received for his stake in January 2000.

Mr David, who holds 18.1 per cent of PMI's issued shares, "may or may not wish to sell some of his holding", said Mr Crasnianski.The company has seen a marked increase in its share price during the past year. There will be no annual fee and customers will have up to 55 days interest-free credit, the company said. It also plans to rebrand its financial services arm "Marks & Spencer Money".The group's existing 2.6 million current chargecard holders will be automatically upgraded to the new "&more" card on 6 October, when other customers will be able to apply for the new card.. Photo-Me International's chief executive, Serge Crasnianski, has denied claims that he was planning to offload part of his holding in the company. Reports published this weekend said that the chief executive was planning to offload a significant number of shares.The company's chief executive and his fellow directors courted controversy in January 2000 by selling more than £50m worth of Photo-Me shares just months before issuing a profits warning.Mr Crasnianski, however, was less categorical regarding the 73-year-old non-executive chairman, Dan David.