asp:UpdateProgress - surpressing the line-break

<form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div>
        <asp:ScriptManager ID="sm" runat="server"></asp:ScriptManager>


    <asp:UpdatePanel runat="server" ID="up1" UpdateMode="Always">
        <ContentTemplate>
            <asp:Label ID="lblTest" runat="server"></asp:Label>
            <asp:Button ID="btnTest" runat="server" Text="Test" OnClick="btnTest_OnClick" />
        </ContentTemplate>
    </asp:UpdatePanel>
    <img id="loadingImg" src="../../../images/loading.gif" style="display:none;"/><span>Some Inline text</span>

    <script>

        Sys.WebForms.PageRequestManager.getInstance().add_beginRequest(function(sender, args) {
            if (args.get_postBackElement().id == "btnTest") {
                document.getElementById("loadingImg").style.display = "inline";
            }
        });


        Sys.WebForms.PageRequestManager.getInstance().add_endRequest(function(sender, args) {
            if (document.getElementById("loadingImg").style.display != "none") {
                document.getElementById("loadingImg").style.display = "none";
            }
        });

    </script>

    </div>
</form>

public partial class updateProgressTest : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    protected void btnTest_OnClick(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
        this.lblTest.Text = "I was changed on the server! Yay!";
    }
}

<asp:UpdatePanel ID="UpdatePanel1" runat="server" UpdateMode="Conditional">
    <ContentTemplate>
        ..........
        <span style="position:absolute;">
            <asp:UpdateProgress ID="UpdateProgress1" runat="server"
                AssociatedUpdatePanelID="UpdatePanel1">
                    <ProgressTemplate>
                        <img alt="please wait..."src="/Images/progress-dots.gif" />
                    </ProgressTemplate>
            </asp:UpdateProgress>
        </span>
    </ContentTemplate>
</asp:UpdatePanel>

<div class="load-inline">LOADER HERE</div>

.load-inline {display:inline-block}

<style type="text/css">
.tbx
{
    float:left;
}

<asp:TextBox CssClass="tbx" .... />

<div style="display:inline">stuff</div>