British builder Taylor Wimpey posts huge loss

Homebuilder Taylor Wimpey said Wednesday that it suffered a massive first-half net loss of 1.419 billion pounds because of "challenging" housing markets in Britain, Spain and the United States.
Taylor Wimpey, which operates across all three countries, said in an earnings release that deteriorating property sectors had forced it to write down the value of its land.
The net loss, equivalent to 1.8 billion euros or 2.6 billion dollars, was recorded in the six months to the end of June, the group said. That compared with a net profit of 22.7 million pounds in the same period of 2007.
Taylor Wimpey also faced a pre-tax loss of 1.542 billion pounds in the first half, which contrasted with a pre-tax profit of 18.3 million last time. Revenue grew 35 percent to 1.89 billion pounds.