Dan Frierson, chairman of The Dixie Group, Inc.The Dixie Group Inc. lost $653,000, or 5 cents per share, from continuing operations last year, but company CEO Dan Frierson said he expects better results for 2013.
"Though 2012 was not satisfactory from a profitability standpoint, we put in place structural changes to our business to take advantage of the positive market dynamics we foresee in the future," Frierson told analysts after the company released its 2012 results.
Investors responded positively to the earnings report Wednesday, pushing up the stock of the Chattanooga-based carpet maker by 4.7 percent to close at $4.37, its highest level since Feb. 28, 2012.
Dixie sales last year were relatively flat at $266.4 million. The company earned nearly $1.3 million, or 10 cents per share, in 2011. But the 2011 results included a gain of $563,000 from the favorable termination of a lease while 2012 included manufacturing realignment and Colormaster dye facility integration expenses of nearly $1.4 million.
From the peak of carpet sales in the third quarter of 2006, industry sales, including those at Dixie Group, slumped about 40 percent by the end of 2009. Since then, overall carpet sales are up about 5 percent while Dixie Group sales have rebounded about 35 percent, Frierson said.
"I feel very confident that the upper end of the market will outperform the market generally and that we have been able to outperform the market generally by continuing our new market introductions and gaining market share at retail," he said.