UK house price downturn hinders Taylor Woodrow

British housebuilder Taylor Woodrow today said the recent cooling in the UK property market had left annual profits towards the bottom end of City hopes.

The group, which sells homes under the Bryant brand, still expects to post record results for the year, but said the final figure for 2004 was likely to be closer to £387.5m (€555.2m), rather than the top of market forecasts at £411.3m (€589.3m).