Stainmaster products continue to perform well @ Dixie

16 May '11

5 min read

The Dixie Group Inc reported financial results for the first quarter ended April 2, 2011. In the first quarter of 2011, the Company had sales of $65,954,000 and income from continuing operations of $644,000, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared with a loss from continuing operations of $2,459,000, or $0.20 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2010.

The sales increase of 30.7% for the fiscal first quarter of 2011 as compared with the first quarter of 2010, equated to a 21.4% increase when adjusting for the 14-week period this year versus the 13-week period last year. Excluding items related to facility consolidations and one-time expenses, as detailed on the enclosed schedule, non-GAAP adjusted operating income from continuing operations was $1,801,000 for the first quarter of 2011, compared with a non-GAAP adjusted operating loss from continuing operations of $2,075,000 for the first quarter of 2010 or an improvement of $3,876,000 versus the same quarter in the prior year.

Commenting on the results, Daniel K. Frierson, chairman and chief executive officer, said, "Dixie had a year-over-year carpet sales improvement; adjusted for a 14-week versus 13-week fiscal period last year, of 21.5% as compared with the industry wide growth of 2.3%. In contrast to our growth in all sectors of the market, the industry, for the first quarter of 2011 like the second half of 2010, saw improvement in the commercial sector while showing poor results for the residential sector.

“Dixie's first quarter residential carpet sales reflected a 22.5% year-over-year increase when adjusted for the number of weeks, while industry sales of residential carpet declined 1.4% compared with the year-earlier first quarter. The residential carpet industry was adversely affected by lower sales of new and existing residential housing units, difficult credit conditions and poor weather early in the quarter. Our commercial carpet business grew 18.6% on an adjusted basis, largely due to significantly higher modular carpet tile sales, and well ahead of the industry's 7.7% commercial carpet sales growth.

"Our continued investment in new products during the economic downturn, we believe, has positioned us to continue to outperform the industry and, as shown by our sales growth, exceed the industry these past 5 quarters. Wool carpet collections by Masland and Fabrica continued the growth trend we have experienced since they were introduced. Our Stainmaster products continue to perform well, at all of our price points from mass merchant through upper end retail and designer channels of distribution. The growth of our commercial carpet business reflects the success of our modular carpet tile products as well as continued growth in our commercial end user markets.

"The first quarter typically is the slowest and most difficult quarter for our business. Due to the severe weather conditions in January, the quarter started slowly but business markedly improved as the quarter progressed. The slow start to the quarter, together with a mix change towards larger volume customers during the same period put pressure on our margins.

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