City cheered by news as share prices at Wilmott Dixon's old housing arm leap 50% in two days

Willmott Dixon has announced its intention to buy back its demerged housing arm Inspace.

An indicative offer was tabled at 183p per share for the publicly-listed company.

Inspace said of the potential acquisition: 鈥淒iscussions are at an advanced stage, there can be no certainty that an offer will be made.鈥�

Inspace saw half-year pre-tax profits jump 47% to 拢5.4m in the six months to June of this year, while turnover more than doubled to 拢140m.

The announcement saw Inspace鈥檚 share price jump to a high of 167p, up from 109p at the beginning of the week.

Willmott Dixon would not comment on the potential acquisition.