Dan Frierson, Dixie GroupDixie sales up, earnings down
The Dixie Group Inc. sales grew faster than the overall industry this summer, but the Chattanooga-based carpet manufacturer still reported a loss of $185,000, or 1 cent per share, in its third quarter.
Dixie said Wednesday its sales grew from $90.2 million in the third quarter of 2013 to $109.4 million in the most recent fiscal quarter.
A year ago, Dixie reported income from continuing operations of $1.3 million, or 11 cents per share.
Dixie CEO Dan Frierson said the operating loss was due to the expense of the company's restructuring program, which he said "has been more front-end loaded than originally planned with expenses and asset write-downs in the third quarter of $1.7 million.
"The third quarter was a period of significant activity as we completed the movement of finished goods out of three of our four residential warehouses into our new Adairsville distribution center," he said.
Dixie Group shares have decreased 37 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has dropped 25 percent in the last 12 months. But shares moved higher Wednesday in early trading on the Nasdaq exchange.
Southern earnings rise
Southern Co. on Wednesday reported earnings of $735 million in its third quarter.
The Atlanta-based company said it had profit of 80 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were $1.09 per share.
The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.07 per share.
The power company posted revenue of $5.34 billion in the period, missing Street forecasts. Analysts expected $5.4 billion, according to Zacks.
Southern Co. shares have increased 14 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed almost 8 percent. The stock has increased 10 percent in the last 12 months.
Visa profits drop 10 percent
Visa Inc.'s profit fell about 10 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter, weighed down by one-time litigation expenses.
But the latest results beat Wall Street expectations and the Foster City, Calif., company also announced a $5 billion share buyback program, sending its stock up 4 percent in extended trading Wednesday.
Visa is the world's largest processor of debit and credit card payments. As such, it benefits from heightened consumer spending, and its results are closely watched because they can be a window into the buying habits and financial health of consumers.
Consumers have been spending more at retailers this year as unemployment has declined and employers have been adding jobs at a solid pace.
Visa said that payments on its system rose 11 percent to $1.2 trillion in the July-September quarter versus a year earlier. That helped boost Visa's service revenue, as well as revenue from data processing and international transactions. Total processed transactions jumped 9 percent to 16.9 billion.
Fiat Chrysler back in the black
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles returned to a profit in the third quarter thanks to a good performance by its luxury brands and gains in North America and Asia.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on Wednesday reported a net profit of 174 million euros ($221 million) for the three months ending Sept. 30. That compares with a loss of 15 million euros in the same period last year.
The carmaker completed a five-year merger process between Fiat, based in Turin, and Chrysler, based in Detroit, with a listing on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month.
Revenues rose 14 percent to 23.5 billion euros. Luxury brand sales increased 35 percent, North America saw a 20 percent gain and Asia was up 30 percent. Latin American revenues dropped 12 percent in a weak market.
Chrysler recalls trucks, SUVs
DETROIT - Fiat Chrysler is recalling more than 566,000 trucks and SUVs in two recalls to fix malfunctioning fuel heaters that can cause fires and a software glitch that can disable the electronic stability control.
The recalls bring the newly merged company's total for the year to 6.4 million vehicles worldwide and 5.1 million in the U.S. as it continues to struggle with reliability problems. The total is short of Chrysler's annual record for recalls of 7.7 million set in 2000.
On Tuesday, its longtime quality chief abruptly left after Fiat Chrysler performed poorly in Consumer Reports magazine's annual reliability rankings.
The largest of two recalls announced Wednesday covers almost 382,000 Ram 2500 and 3500 pickups and Ram 4500 and 5500 chassis cabs from 2010 through 2014.
In trucks with 6.7-liter Cummins diesel engines, corrosion on a fuel heater terminal could cause overheating, fuel leaks and fires. Chrysler is not aware of any fires or injuries. Owners could be warned by an odor of diesel fuel.
Customers will be notified by letters starting in December. Dealers will install upgraded terminals and fuel heater housings could be replaced.
The second recall covers more than 184,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango SUVs from 2014. A debris cover over a circuit board in the steering column control module can disrupt communications and disable the stability control. The problem was discovered when dealers started getting reports from customers that electronic stability control warning lights were coming on.
Fiat Chrysler says it knows of no crashes or injuries caused by the problem. Technicians will upgrade software to fix the SUVs, and customers will be notified in December.