Dan Frierson, chairman of The Dixie Group, Inc.Recovery is in the air at The Dixie Group, the Chattanooga-based carpetmaker that on Thursday announced its first profitable year since 2008.
The high-end carpetmaker posted profits in each quarter except the fourth — a loss that was due to increased research and marketing as well as slower sales, said chairman and CEO Dan Frierson.
“The upper-end business is in the process of recovering from this historic downturn,” Frierson said, after experiencing “a decline of unprecedented magnitude.”
For all of 2011, Dixie reported income from continuing operations of $1.27 million, or 10 cents per share, on sales of $270.1 million. In 2010, Dixie lost $4.37 million from continuing operations, or 35 cents per share, on sales of $231.3 million.
For the fourth quarter, however, Dixie announced a loss of $203,000, or 2 cents per share, on sales $65.3 million. A year ago in the same period, Dixie earned $638,000, or 5 cents per share, on sales of $65.1 million.