Dixie Group, Inc. Aktie

Good day, and welcome to The Dixie Group, Inc. 2026 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Chief Operating Officer, Kennedy Frierson. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Maria, and welcome, everyone, to our 2026 second quarter conference call. As reported last month by FloorDaily.net, my father, Dan Frierson, Chairman and CEO of The Dixie Group, had a bad fall on July 5, which required surgery the following day to the pelvis and hip area. He is continuing to recover extremely well at home and will be back in short order when his recovery is complete. I will be sitting in for him today for the conference call.

With me, I have Allen Danzey, our Chief Financial Officer. Our safe harbor statement is included by reference both to our website and press release. For the second quarter of 2026, the company's net sales were flat with last year at $68.6 million. The company had an operating income of $3.093 million in the second quarter of 2026 compared to an operating income of $3.189 million in the second quarter of the previous year.

The net income from continuing operations in the second quarter of 2026 was $1.130 million or $0.07 per diluted share versus net income of $1.254 million or $0.08 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2025.

At this time, Allen will review our financial results, after which I will have additional comments regarding these results.

Thank you, Kennedy. As Kennedy said, our second quarter net sales of $68.6 million were closely in line with the same quarter in the prior year, but we were able to report a higher gross profit margin for 2026 at 29.5% compared to 29.2% in 2025. On the year-to-date, net sales were $128 million compared to $132 million in the prior year. The 2026 year-to-date gross profit margin was 30.9% or 2.8% higher than prior year, but this did include the favorable impact of recording the IEEPA tariff refund in the first quarter. Adjusted for that refund, the 2026 year-to-date gross profit margin would be 29.1% compared to the 28.1% margin in the prior year.

The improved margins in 2026 despite the lower year-over-year net sales was the result of cost reductions and profit improvement initiatives implemented in 2025 in the early part of this year.

Selling and administrative expenses were relatively flat year-over-year in the second quarter, but are 3% lower on the year-to-date. Our facility consolidation expense in the second quarter of 2026 included $389,000 for a cost-saving initiative to consolidate a portion of our West Coast yarn processing to our existing plant in Roanoke, Alabama.

Our interest expense on the quarter was $2 million compared to $1.9 million in the prior year. On the year, interest expense was $3.9 million compared to $3.4 million in the prior year. For the second quarter of 2026, we had a net income of $1.1 million and $2.2 million on the year-to-date. The prior year net income was $1.2 million in the quarter and a loss of $537,000 for the 6-month period. On our balance sheet, our quarter end net receivable balance, excluding the IEEPA tariff receivable was $27.8 million compared to the prior year-end balance of $23 million. This increase was driven by higher sales activity in the final month of the second quarter compared to year-end.

Our net inventory balance was also up slightly over year-end at $67 million in quarter 2 compared to $66.4 million at year-end 2025. Accounts payable and accrued expenses were $42.2 million compared to $38.8 million at the end of the previous year as a result of the higher volume compared to the seasonally low year-end. Net property, plant and equipment decreased by $2.2 million from prior year, which included $2.3 million in depreciation. Capital expenditure was $175,000.

The debt on our balance sheet increased by $1 million from year-end. Our availability to borrow today under our senior credit facility is estimated to be approximately $13.3 million, which is subject to a $6 million excess availability requirement. Our investor presentation is available on our website at dixiegroup.com. Kennedy?

Thank you, Allen. We were encouraged by our slightly higher gross margins of 29.5% for the second quarter versus 29.2% in the prior year on flat sales with slightly lower unit volumes. Although we saw raw material increases in the second quarter, the results of our profit improvement initiatives drove this improvement.

As mentioned last quarter, we did increase prices in the second quarter to offset some of these raw material increases. We expect that our profit improvement plan will contribute approximately $17 million in year-over-year cost reductions and profit enhancements. The downsizing of our Porterville, California yarn processing operation is substantially complete, and we should begin to see benefits in the second half of this year from this action.

The restructuring costs recognized in the second quarter for this downsizing were nearly $400,000 with another approximate $100,000 to be recognized in the third quarter. These restructuring costs for the quarter explain the lower net income from continuing operations in second quarter 2026 versus prior year, even with a slightly higher gross margin on flat sales and flat SG&A spending year-over-year. As mentioned previously, our net sales were flat with slight improvement in our soft surface business, similar to the residential carpet industry results. However, we do not believe that the slight improvement that was seen in residential soft surface during the second quarter means that we are in the recovery phase yet.

Our Fabrica wood continued to show significant growth during the period. The tariff transition from Section 122 to Section 301 tariffs on July 24 was pretty much a nonevent as some countries move from 10% to 12.5% tariff rates. This was a welcome relief in terms of the magnitude of volatility that we have seen in this area since Liberation Day in April 2025.

Our order activity for the first 5 weeks of the third quarter has been higher than prior year in the mid-single-digit range with greater strength in soft surfaces. However, market conditions remain extremely challenging. Historically low existing home sales, high mortgage interest rates and economic uncertainty from Middle East conflicts have dampened the benefit of record stock market highs. We are still unsure when existing home sales will improve from the current level of 4 million units per year, a 30-year low where we have been stuck for over 3.5 years.

Our focus continues to be the creation of differentiated styles for the mid- to high-end consumer with an emphasis on color pattern and textural visuals. In our soft surface offerings, we remain committed to our step into color campaign and believe that our ability to provide more extensive and on-trend color palettes remains a key differentiator in our offerings.

We will remain focused on reducing expenses and improving our profitability during this challenging period of economic uncertainty and housing market struggles. We are encouraged by recent initiatives and legislation at the federal level to drive improvement in the housing market. Resolution to current Middle East conflicts and improvement in the housing market will be the key components to the recovery of the flooring market. At this time, we will open the meeting to questions.

[Operator Instructions]

Our first question comes from Barry Blank with J.H. Darbie & Co.

First question is, are you seeing more consolidation in the industry? Or has that slowed down any?

Well, Barry, good to hear from you. I'm glad you were able to make the call. We have not really seen much more consolidation on the -- certainly on the soft surface side as most of that consolidation has occurred over the last 10 to 20 years. And also on the hard surface side, there continue to be a large number of suppliers of a lot of imported flooring. So in general, we have not seen a significant consolidation at this point in terms of the suppliers of flooring products to the industry.

What is your feeling on the progress that you're making on the hard surface?

Well, it's a little bit of a tale of 2 cities. We feel extremely good about the progress we're making with our Fabrica wood program. We have not performed as well with our hard surface in the resilient category and our TRUCOR brand. We are doing several things this year to improve that and are starting to see some progress in that area, but we have not performed as well as the industry in the resilient category over the last 18 months or so. We do expect to be able to get that going again, but it has not been as strong a part for us as our wood program and our soft surface.

One more quick question. What is your feeling on when this -- the housing downturn that we have will stop and turn around? I know it depends on interest rates, but are you seeing any movements in that area? Or is it still pretty flat?

It's still very tough, Barry. Unfortunately, as soon as we start to see momentum, interest rates, 30-year mortgage interest rates dipped below 6% at the end of February. And a few days after that, we entered the conflict with Iran. And at this point, we've continued to see interest rates go up, and I think that disrupted some of that activity.

The medium, long term is very positive, but we have yet to see those short-term indicators that tide has turned. We are encouraged. I think JPMorgan has pledged a significant amount of money to help in terms of affordable housing and supporting the housing market. Congress certainly has gotten involved, and there are a lot of people that understand that's an important part of the American economy and really the American dream for the people in this country.

But we have yet to see really that trigger or anything to help make that happen and really start to turn. We know it's going to. And we know when it does, it will be a significant recovery in terms of magnitude and duration. But unfortunately, we're still waiting until that happens and doing everything we can to operate as effectively, as lean as well as we can until we're able to capitalize on that opportunity.

Our next question comes from Mike Hughes with...

I think you took pricing in April. I was just curious how much of the volume in the quarter was covered by that pricing increase?

That's a great -- I don't have a specific number, Mike. That's an excellent question. I would say probably 1/4 to 1/3 would be my rough estimate in terms of when that -- once that gets implemented, including the timing of that and then the delay from order to shipment cycle and so forth. Maybe a little bit more than 1/3 actually. That would probably be the best estimate I could provide for you.

Okay, Allen. So in very rough terms, I understand you're saying another 2/3 of the price increase is still in front of us as far as flowing through the income statement for the third quarter and beyond. Is that correct?

Yes.

Okay. That's good. And then one of your large peers when talking about pricing the other day, they indicated that maybe additional pricing might be necessary given where costs stand now. Do you have any thoughts on where your pricing stands and whether you might need to take additional increases?

It's hard for us to project forward, but I will let you know that we were making very quick decisions. Raw materials started to escalate quickly in March after the Middle East conflict. And so the decisions we were making in terms of the magnitude of our increases did not capture all the increases that we have experienced through the second quarter and to date.

We did the best we could in terms of estimating what the magnitude of those increases were going to be and it's been uneven, too. We started to see oil prices in June and raw materials in early July looked more encouraging. I think as the memorandum of understanding was signed. Unfortunately, it appeared that there was a misunderstanding for the memorandum and we've asked the American Historical Society to have that -- rename the memorandum misunderstanding. We'll let you know when that gets decided. But overall, we did not recover all of our raw material increases with the amount we went up in the second quarter.

Okay. So I assume you were relatively happy with the gross margin results given you had all of the price increase in the quarter and still a good portion of the price increase in front of you?

I'm sorry, Mike, I think you said price both times. We had most of the raw material cost increase in the second quarter, but only some of the price increase. Yes.

Excuse me, yes, yes. Okay. And then was there a LIFO reserve in the quarter?

There was no adjustment to the LIFO reserve, Mike. We record any cost changes to our inventory and do adjust that into the LIFO reserve. So it just flows through on our cost of sales. The only significant adjustment we would have to the LIFO reserve in concept would be if we had a tier liquidation. Otherwise, we roll it through adjusting in line with any raw material increases.

Okay. And then last question for you. The $17 million in cost reductions, how much of that has been recognized through the second quarter?

Approximately $9 million.

Okay. With no further questions in the queue, I would now like to turn the call back over to Kennedy Frierson for any additional or closing remarks.

Thank you, Maria, and thank you all for joining us for our quarterly conference call. We look forward to visiting with you again at the end of our third quarter. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude today's conference. Thank you again for your participation.

Good day, and welcome to the Dixie Group, Inc. 2026 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dan Frierson.. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Christine, and welcome, everyone, to our first quarter 2026 conference call. With me, I have Allen Danzey, our Chief Financial Officer. Our safe harbor statement is included by reference both to our website and press release.

For the first quarter of 2026, the company's net sales were $59.38 million as compared to $62.99 million in the same quarter of 2025 or down 5.7%. The company had an operating income of $3.264 million in the first quarter of 2026 compared to an operating income of $11,000 in the first quarter of the previous year.

The net income from continuing operations in the first quarter of 2026 was $1.354 million or $0.09 per diluted share. In 2025, the net loss from continuing operations for the first quarter was $1.582 million or $0.11 per diluted share.

At this time, Allen will review our financial results, after which I will have additional comments regarding our improved results.

All right. Thank you, Dan. In the first quarter of 2026, the company recognized a receivable for the anticipated refund of the IEEPA tariffs that were incurred in 2025 and 2026. The amount of that receivable was $3.3 million and a corresponding gain was recorded to the cost of goods sold. Without the IEEPA tariffs, the gross margin in the first quarter of 2026 was 28.6% as compared to 26.9% in the prior year. The improved margins in 2026 despite the lower year-over-year net sales was a result of cost reductions and our profit improvement initiatives that were implemented in 2025 in the early part of this year.

The savings from our Profit Improvement Plan were also evident in our selling and administrative expenses in the first quarter, which were $878,000 or 5.2% below the prior year. Our net other operating expenses were fairly close year-over-year, and our interest expense in the quarter was $1.9 million compared to $1.5 million in the prior year due to higher internal interest rates and financing expenses year-over-year. Net income on the quarter, inclusive of the IEEPA tariff receivable was $1.2 million compared to a net loss of $1.7 million in the prior year.

On our balance sheet, our quarter end net receivables, excluding the IEEPA tariff receivable, was $26.6 million compared to the prior year-end balance of $23 million. This increase was driven by higher sales activity in the final month of the first quarter compared to the year-end. Our net inventory balance was also up over year-end at $68.1 million in Q1 of 2026 compared to $66.4 million at the year-end 2025. Accounts payable and accrued expenses were $43.1 million compared to $38.8 million at the end of the previous year, and that was a result of the higher purchases of raw materials and inventory as we enter the seasonally stronger second quarter.

Net property, plant and equipment decreased by $1.1 million from prior year, and this included $1.2 million of depreciation on the year. Capital expenditures were approximately $59,000 on the quarter. The debt on our balance sheet increased by $2.1 million from year-end. Our balance for term debt decreased by $0.5 million. Our availability to borrow today under our senior credit facility is estimated to be approximately $10.2 million, which is subject to a $6 million excess availability requirement.

Our investor presentation is available on our website at dixiegroup.com. Dan?

Thank you, Allen. Continued soft market conditions within the flooring industry, driven by historically low existing home sales, high home prices and high interest rates were compounded in the first quarter of 2026 by the uncertainty caused by the conflict in the Middle East. Our gross profit margin in the first quarter of '26 was boosted by the recognition of a $3.3 million receivable for the refund of IEEPA tariffs, as Allen has explained. Without the impact of the IEEPA tariffs, year-over-year margins improved by 2% of net sales despite lower sales volume in 2026.

The improved year-over-year gross profit margin is mainly the impact of our previously announced profit improvement plan. Based on our first quarter activity, including the recognition of the IEEPA tariff refund and additional new initiatives, we estimate the impact of our plan to be an improvement in year-over-year profit of $17.8 million. In the second quarter of 2026, we started seeing our -- seeing higher costs for our raw materials driven primarily by the higher price of oil. We have implemented a price increase in the second quarter as many others in the industry have to offset these rising material costs.

In March, order entry was impacted by the beginning of the Iranian situation that seemed to improve later in the month. For the first 5 weeks of the second quarter, we have begun to see the seasonal improvement in sales activity. At this point, sequential improvement from first quarter has been reflected by improvement in orders and sales in the mid-teen range, which means order entry has been equivalent to the same period a year ago. We continue to see our soft surface business outperform the industry.

In the first quarter, we participated in multiple trade shows, including the International Surfaces trade show in Las Vegas, where we showcased 34 new broadloom carpet styles across our nylon polyester and decorative collections. Our focus continues to be the creation of differentiated styles for the mid- to high-end consumer with an emphasis on color, pattern and textural visuals. We also showcased new visuals and innovations in our hard surface offerings. This included new colors and patterns in our Fabrica wood program and expanded WPC offerings with new visuals and colors in our TRUCOR brand.

Due to the uncertain geopolitical situation, we're still unsure when existing home sales will break out of its current level of about $4 million per year, which is at a 30-year low despite the fact that our population has grown during that 30-year period by 70 million people. Hopefully, the Iranian situation will be resolved soon and raw material pricing volatility will be reduced. Currently, the Section 122 tariffs are set for all countries at 10%, which will expire on July 24. We anticipate the ongoing Section 301 investigations will lead to new tariffs, probably at rates similar to what we experienced under the IEEPA tariff rates.

During these volatile and uncertain times, we continue to take actions that will enhance our profit improvement plan. During the second quarter, we're downsizing our Porterville, California yarn operation, which will have a positive impact on our future cost structure. We continue to explore ways to improve profitability.

At this time, we will open the meeting to questions.

At this time, we'd be happy to open the line to the conference call for questions. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Barry Blank with J.H. Darbie.

Dan, I have one. The first question is with this prolonged drought in housing construction, are you seeing the competitors -- there's a lot of small competitors weaken and possibly getting out of the business. And of course, that would strengthen the others, but maybe be an opportunity for some acquisition or so at a very reasonable price. Do you see any of that?

Barry, to be candid, most of the small competitors are out of the business already in the soft surface side. In the hard surface side, there are many, many competitors. But on the soft surface side, which is the bulk of our business, over 80%, most of that took place in the last 10 to 20 years. There are a few smaller ones, but they're very specialized, and I don't see a lot of more consolidation.

My second question, let's assume...

Barry. We have trouble hearing you.

Can you hear me now?

Yes.

Okay. Let's assume that this prolonged housing starts continue on longer than we expected to. I mean, I, for one, don't see lower interest rates, maybe I'm wrong, but I see maybe possibly higher interest rates and the storm may be longer than anticipated. What's your comments about that?

Well, housing starts are -- haven't been impacted as much as existing home sales and existing home sales tends to be more a barometer of our business. In new homes, typically flooring is not luxury, the more luxurious products. It's the more basic products. We tend to specialize on more luxurious products. So existing home sales would be a better barometer and it has been stuck at that $4 million level for several years and a lot longer than we anticipated. Our response is to continue cutting costs, trying to improve operations, and that's exactly what we've been doing and we'll continue to do.

Our next question comes from the line of Mike Hughes, a private investor.

Just first question on the $3.3 million refund, is that number cut for accounting purposes? Or is that the full amount that you do expect?

Yes, that is the full amount. There's a small very inconsequential amount related to liquidated tariffs that were not recognized, but $3.3 million is the expected amount prior to any interest that is applied. We do expect from the Supreme Court ruling and all the information from the CBP that there will be interest, but we do not know that amount, how it would be applied, and it has not yet been recognized.

Okay. And any idea on the timing on the $3.3 million number?

Timing of cash Right. We do not know the timing of cash payment. The CBP in their last meeting, which I believe was on the 28th of April, there was a comment made that it could start as early as this week. We are watching the CAPE system for activity there just to see if there's movement in that direction. I have not seen it at this point, but I believe the long scope or the initial conversation was a 60-day time frame of payment. So hopefully earlier, but within net 60-day period.

Okay. And then any change in the performance between hard and soft? I think over the last few quarters, your soft business rather has outperformed the hard side. Was that the case in the first quarter? And then any changes subsequent to the price increases?

Actually, no. We continue to outperform the industry on soft surface, and we do not on hard surface. Hard surface is a much smaller part of our business, but we continue to perform better with soft surface than we do with hard surface.

Okay. And then you and I think other players put in place price increases in April. Is there any mismatch as far as converting the price increases into revenue and then the cost going up because you're on LIFO? Meaning will you be hit more in the June quarter than September from a margin perspective?

Let me start and then, Allen, you add to this. We are on LIFO, as you correctly indicated, which means our costs impact us right away. We did increase prices in April. It was -- came effective April 27. Those prices will certainly help mitigate the impact of the cost increases, but we will have cost increases before the impact, we see the full impact of the price increase.

Yes. And I would agree with that and wouldn't really be able to add much more. The cost increases are pushed through when identified and when the LIFO are recognized timely.

Okay. And just a technical question. I know it's a complex calculation, but just directionally, the LIFO reserve will step up in the current quarter, correct, Allen?

It will. Yes, it will from recognizing the higher cost, yes.

Okay. And then I think you addressed the liquidity partly. But on the last call, I had asked about the potential to monetize additional real estate assets, and I think you said that was something that you were looking into. How far along is that process?

We are working on it. I wouldn't want to give an assessment on timing because, obviously, it's something that we work through with potential lenders and others who would be involved in that and our Board. So we are continuing to look at our opportunities there. And when an opportunity that meets our expectations and the Board's approval is in place, we'll move forward with that and have that information available.

Okay. Are you pursuing other financing avenues at this point to kind of give you a little bit more wiggle room over the next few quarters from a liquidity standpoint?

Yes. Mike, we do look really constantly assessing our opportunities based on, again, the assets that we have available, we have equipment, we have real estate. We have partners out from a lending perspective that we stay in contact with. And again, just having that available to the Board is opportunities and so we can talk about those opportunities and make decisions around that. So that way the answer is yes. We continue to look and continue to assess opportunities.

Okay. And then just last question. Can you quantify the savings from the announcement you made this morning on the call related to California?

We feel that we will see -- there will be some costs involved in this. The net impact will be close to $0.5 million this year, we think.

With no further questions in the queue. I will turn the call back to Dan Frierson for any additional or closing remarks.

Christine, thank you, and thank all of you for joining us for our quarterly conference call and look forward to visiting with you at the end of the second quarter.

Ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude today's conference. Thank you again for your participation.

Good day, and welcome to The Dixie Group, Inc. 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded.

At this time, for opening remarks and introduction, I'd like to turn the call over to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dan Frierson. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Rob, and welcome, everyone, to our fourth quarter conference call. I want to introduce also Allen Danzey, our CFO, who is with me. Our safe harbor statement is included by reference to our website and press release.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, net sales were $63,487,000 or 1.4% below the net sales in the fourth quarter of 2024. The net loss for the fourth quarter of 2025 was $3 million. This compares with a net loss of $7,198,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024. For the fiscal year 2025, net sales for the company were $257,429,000 or 2.9% below net sales of fiscal year 2024. The net loss from continuing operations on the year was $7,275,000 in 2025 or $0.50 per diluted share compared to a net loss of $12,210,000 or $0.83 per diluted share in 2024. The net loss for the year was $7,615,000 or $0.52 per diluted share compared to a net loss of $13 million or $0.88 per share in 2024. Our soft surface sales for the quarter and the year were down less than 1% from the year ago period. We believe the industry was down approximately 4% in the quarter and 5% for the year. Consequently, we continue to gain market share in the corporate market during this difficult period.

At this time, Allen will review our financial results, after which I will have additional comments.

All right. Thank you, Dan. Despite the lower year-over-year sales, we did generate higher gross margin at 27% on the quarter and the year-to-date or the year -- full year of 2025 also at 27%. That compares to 21.7% in the prior year quarter and 24.7% than the prior fiscal year. These improved margins in 2025 were the result of cost reductions and profit improvement initiatives that we implemented throughout the year.

Selling and administrative expenses for the fiscal year 2025 were $2.2 million or 3.1% below the prior year. Significant reductions in selling expenses, particularly in our samples and marketing areas were partially offset by higher legal expenses in our administrative area. Other operating expenses of $1.2 million on the year was mainly driven by legal settlements in the third quarter of 2025. Our interest expense on the year was $7.3 million compared to the 2024 interest expense of $6.4 million. Higher internal interest rates and amortization of financing fees contributed to this difference. Net loss in the quarter was $3 million compared to a net loss of $7.2 million in the prior year. And for the fiscal year 2025, we had a net loss of $7.6 million compared to a net loss of $13 million in the prior year.

On our balance sheet, our year-end receivables of $23 million was slightly down from the prior year-end balance of $23.3 million, and our net inventory balance was also slightly down year-over-year at $66.4 million in 2025 compared to $66.9 million in 2024. Our accounts payable and accrued expenses were $38.8 million compared to $30 million in the same period of the previous year as a result of the extended terms and timings of payments due. Net property, plant and equipment decreased by $4.6 million from prior year, and this included $5.6 million in depreciation on the year with capital expenditures in 2025 of approximately $600,000. Our debt balance, net of restricted and unrestricted cash decreased by $7.6 million from prior year-end. And currently, our availability to borrow today under our senior credit facility is estimated to be approximately $10 million, which is subject to a $6 million excess availability requirement. Our investor presentation is available on our website at dixiegroup.com. Dan?

Thank you, Allen. As 2025 began, there was a great deal of optimism that the new year with the new regime in Washington would bring relief to the housing and floor covering industries. Instead, the housing industry continued to linger in the door and the floor covering industry experienced another year of decline.

Our industry has now been in a recession for 4 years. The units produced today are down about 30% from 4 years ago. Traditionally, the level of existing home sales is an accurate barometer of our industry's level of business activity. In 2025, existing home sales on 30-year logo despite the fact that our population has grown during this 30-year period by 70 million people. Another way to look at it, last year, there were about 3 houses sold for every 100 households. This is the lowest ratio since 1982. At that time, you may remember, the economy was mired in recession and mortgage rates were in the 16% range. Today, the economy is in a much stronger position and home prices have increased more than 50% since 2019.

Clearly, there is pent-up demand, which will get realized when mortgage rates declined further. During 2025, mortgage rates declined from the high 6% range to the low 6% range, but further reductions will be needed to unleash the demand. We're hopeful that this will happen in the not-too-distant future. But until then, we must continue to navigate in the current environment.

During this slowdown, we have continued to gain market share in the carpet market. In 2025, our carpet sales were flat, but industry sales were down about 5%. And consequently, we have had to lower cost, restructure facilities and streamline operations. In 2025, we reduced cost by over $12 million and now have reduced costs by $60 million over the last 3 years. We have also implemented a profit improvement plan for 2026 this year, which will improve profitability by over $13 million. The reduction in business has necessitated reducing our number of associates over this period of time by 30%. We have also been better stewards of our working capital and greatly reduced working capital expenditures, except for the extrusion equipment, which we started up in 2024. 2025 was the first year complete year of production for the extrusion equipment, and it has provided us with lower cost raw materials and strategically a consistent supply of raw material as other suppliers have exited the business.

Our commitment to be stable nylon fiber enables us to offer a larger pallet of color to our discriminating customers, which we are promoting with our Step Into Color campaign. This allows our designers to create unlimited color options for every market as well as offering custom color to our most discerning customers upon demand. we were surprised and impacted as were many other companies by the implementation of liberation date tariffs and other tariff measures that follow. We raised prices 3x during the year to mitigate the financial impact. While these increases offset the cost of the tariffs, the difference in the timing of the tariffs and the price increases for our customers had a negative impact of approximately $1.4 million. The total payment of IEPPA tariffs by our company was approximately $3.3 million.

During this prolonged period of slower business, we have continued to invest in additional products to enhance our offering and position in the upper end of the market. As the leader in the trusted wool product category, we continue offering additional beautiful natural products through 1866 by Masland and Décor by Fabrica. The high end of the floor covering market has performed better than the rest of the market. And consequently, as we have stated earlier, we have continued to gain market share in a very difficult environment.

In 2025, we continued expanding our DuraSilk Solution Dyed Pet Solutions Polyester offering. By incorporating our well-known style, design and color capabilities to these products, we have broadened our product offering and enhanced our market share. In the hard surface category, our main objective in 2025 was exiting China as a source of product due to the high tariffs implemented and threatened. We accomplished this move earlier in the year with little impact on our customers. We continue to add product to our TRUCOR brand into our Fabrica high-end wood program. With the addition of the clay collection, the Fabrica wood offering is consistent with Fabrica's best-in-class reputation and had strong growth during the year. We have continued to expand and enhance our digital marketing efforts with partners focused on changing buying habits in the markets we supply. These efforts are resulting in increased lead generation, increased sample order activity from our website and improve capabilities for online product visualization.

We also saw growth from retail stores where we have implemented our Premier Flooring Center program. Late in the year, one of our significant competitors exited the residential carpet business. As we have in the past, we used this opportunity to fill the void by mounting a Make the Move campaign with our customers. With the profit improvement plan in place and the introduction of many new products, 2026 will show significant improvement in our results even if market conditions do not improve. It is too early to determine the potential impact of the Iranian situation. It does appear that an early cessation of hostilities would limit the impact on raw material costs, but a prolonged conflict could have a major impact on input costs for our industry.

Consequently, recently, 2 major industry players have announced price increases on residential products to be effective in late April due to both internal and external pricing costs. We will continue to monitor and evaluate market conditions and the appropriate actions to be taken. So far this year, our sales pattern is similar to last year with sales of soft surface down slightly but performing better than our hard surface products.

At this time, we will open the meeting to questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Barry Blank with J.H. Darbie.

I got a couple of things. You discussed what you expect to happen if interest rates go down. I'm not so sure they're going to go down. How bad will it hurt us if we get an increase rate rise, which is very possible?

Barry, I would agree with you that interest rates, of course, have risen in the last couple of weeks since the Iranian activity started, and I think they could ride more. I believe the level of existing home sales has been pretty steady at the $4 million range for the last couple of years when rates were higher. So I don't anticipate they'll go down a lot more, but we clearly will not have improved volumes, and we're not projecting improved volumes for this year.

Let's assume that this Iranian situation does not end as quickly as we expect. How is that going to affect getting the materials that you need to produce the goods that you can sell?

I'm not as concerned about getting the material as the price of the material or the pricing of everything related to oil. I think in terms of getting the products, obviously, we produce most of our own products here in this country. We do import from the Far East, some we import from India, and we do import from Turkey and a little from the Middle East. But the bigger impact will likely be rising raw material costs and passing those on in an expeditious manner.

Okay. One more area and then I'll let other people talk. The common stock is down basically all-time low. And of course, it's probably justified with the losses that we have not saying that. But people they look -- will look at Dixie Group customers, suppliers, that sort of thing and see this. I really think that maybe a little more attention could be paid. And there's a few things that could be done.

Number one, I mentioned in the past, a stock dividend. Will that cost the company absolutely nothing to give us? And if you look at it, you say, well, gee, you're not getting anything because the pie is just split into bigger, smaller pieces. But I've been a graduate thesis in the '60s and almost all 5% and 10% stock dividends, the stock went down 5% or 10%, but they recovered that within 20 days in 90% of the instances. So it really does make a difference to people that are actually getting something if we have that. And the second thing it would really look good if it doesn't have to be big quantities, if management and the Board and stuff like that would make some purchases of stock because a lot of people look at inside of buying, and they don't see it. And with the stock down at record lows, I think it's kind of critical to have some sort of buying by the people inside the company.

Barry, I don't disagree with you. And we will be looking at all of your thoughts there with our Board at our next Board meeting. Thank you.

Our next question comes from Mike Hughes, a private investor.

Just looking at the investor presentation, you list $14.2 million in cost saves for 2026. I just want to be clear on this. That $14.2 million is all incremental savings in '26 versus '25. Is that correct?

It is a year-over-year profit improvement initiatives.

So the answer is yes.

Let's put it simply, yes, you are correct.

Okay. And it says $8.4 million will come from lower material costs and pricing. So when you put this together, the $8.4 million coming from lower material cost, is that still the case as of today because of what's happened in Iran? Or are you actually starting to see the price increases or you're just worried that they could happen if this drags on?

Mike, the bulk of that came from price increases in the fourth quarter that we put into effect that were in effect as of January. That was the bulk of that. Part of it was raw material decreases. We have seen some of that, but I am very concerned if this Iranian thing goes much longer, that will -- that portion of it will be impacted.

Yes. And we also have some recovery of freight costs. Again, as Dan mentioned, these things were put in place last year, and this is the full effect in 2026.

Okay. And I think I asked you about this on the last call or the prior call to that. Just asset sales. I think you indicated there were additional assets that you could sell if necessary. Is that something you're actively pursuing right now?

Yes. We have the opportunity, as you mentioned, around certain assets. We have buildings in North Georgia as well as equipment that we could take out for financing. We have looked at these opportunities. We'll continue to pursue those. And if we find an opportunity that makes sense for us and the Board approves, we will move forward with that and make that information available.

Okay. And then the $1.4 million in net tariff impact for the year, how much of that was in the fourth quarter?

I don't have that figure in front of me. But obviously, it was -- the bulk of it was in the third and fourth quarter.

Okay. And then the $3.3 million in tariffs that you've paid to date, have you applied for a refund? Or what's that mechanism going to look like?

Well, we're waiting for clarification. We have hired outside help to help us with that.

Yes, we are very actively pursuing that and understanding the climate as it's being worked through. We have access to the ACE portal and have worked with our brokers to make sure that we have done the right things to position ourselves that once the refunds are being issued that we are in place to expedite that movement as well as we can.

Okay. And then I understand the commentary about the soft side of the business in the first quarter kind of trending similar to last year. Any change in the trends on the hard side?

No. I think they're pretty similar. Our wood program continues to be very strong and show growth. Our luxury final plank business, SPC or WPC, it's very competitive and not as strong. But it's very similar to last year.

Okay. And then last question for you. Allen, do you have a CapEx number for '26?

I think, Dan, you may recall, it was $3 million.

$2.5 million.

Yes. $3.5 million. We're looking at $2.5 million as part of our plan for 2026 for the CapEx.

And obviously, that will be looked at as we progress through the year. We spent a lot less than that last year.

With no further questions in the queue. I will turn the call back to Dan Frierson for any additional or closing remarks.

Rob, thank you very much. We are in a very volatile period with the Iranian situation. I do think that hopefully, that is resolved in the not-too-distant future. But we appreciate you being with us on the call and your questions. Thank you very much, and talk to you next quarter.

Ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude today's conference. We thank you for your participation.

Good day, and welcome to The Dixie Group, Inc. 2025 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I'd like to turn the call over to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dan Frierson. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Melissa, and welcome, everyone, to our third quarter earnings conference call. Our safe harbor statement is included by reference both to our website and press release. For the third quarter of 2025, the company had net sales of $62,379,000 as compared to $64,877,000 same quarter of 2024. The company had an operating loss of $2,025,000 compared to an operating loss of $2,107,000 in the third quarter of 2024.

The net loss from continuing operations in the third quarter of 2025 was $3,998,000 or $0.28 per diluted share. In 2024, the net loss from continuing operations for the quarter was $3,729,000 or $0.26 per diluted share. Third quarter sales got off to a slow start as a result of headwinds in the housing markets tied to high interest rates and high housing prices. Despite a slow start to the quarter, we saw a strong rebound in sales for September, giving us momentum as we entered the fourth quarter. The average weekly order entry rate for the first month of the fourth quarter was 12% above the average weekly order entry rate in the third quarter and close to last year's level for the same period. At this time, I will turn the meeting over to Allen, who will review our financial results.

Thank you, Dan. The lower sales volume in the first part of the third quarter resulted in gross margins that were less favorable than what we had seen in the first 2 quarters of this year. They were still slightly favorable to the prior year at 24.8% of net sales compared to 24.6% in the third quarter of 2024. Year-to-date margins were still very favorable to the prior year-to-date September at 27% compared to 25.7% in the prior year. Our selling and administrative expenses were $1.2 million or 6.8% below the same quarter of the prior year, and they were 2.5% lower on the year-to-date.

We've had significant reductions in selling expenses, particularly related to samples and marketing, and they were partially offset by higher legal expenses. Other operating expenses of $1 million in the third quarter included lease income net of the related expenses, estimated legal costs and other miscellaneous expenses. Our interest expense on the year was $5.4 million compared to the 2024 year-to-date interest expense of $4.8 million. We had higher internal interest rates and amortization of financing fees throughout the year that contributed to that difference. The net loss on the quarter was $4.1 million compared to a net loss of $3.9 million in the prior year.

Fiscal year-to-date September, we had a net loss of $4.6 million compared to a net loss of $5.8 million in prior year. Looking to our balance sheet, our September month end receivables of $26.3 million was up from our seasonally low year-end balance of $23.3 million, and that increase was driven by the comparatively higher sales volume in that latter period. Our net inventory balance at the end of the third quarter was $68.5 million compared to a net inventory balance of $76.8 million in the third quarter of the previous year. We had a planned reduction of inventory in the fourth quarter of last year, and we continue to manage inventory at the lower levels while maintaining our service to our customers at a timely level.

Accounts payable and accrued expenses were $44.1 million compared to $36.8 million in the same period of the previous year as a result of extended terms and timing of payments that were due. Net property, plant and equipment decreased by $3.5 million from our prior year-end. This included $3.9 million in depreciation year-to-date. Year-to-date capital expenditures have been $446,000. We plan to hold capital expenditures under a maintenance level of approximately $800,000 for this year, and depreciation is expected to be $5.1 million.

The debt on our balance sheet decreased by $916,000 from year-end. Our senior debt balance net of restricted and unrestricted cash on the balance sheet at the end of the third quarter was $45.8 million. That's a $4.2 million reduction from that same total at prior year-end. Our balance for term debt decreased by $4 million from year-end. At the end of the quarter, borrowing availability under our new senior credit facility was $10.9 million, which was subject to a $6 million excess availability requirement. Our investor presentation is available on our website at dixiegroup.com. Dan?

Thank you, Allen. For the past 3 years, the supply of available housing has not kept pace with household formations, which has created a shortage of supply. Consequently, the flooring industry has been impacted by low home sales and consumers postponing large discretionary purchases. Housing turnover has a dramatic impact on the flooring industry. Residential remodeling is the primary driver of our sales as flooring is often replaced before a home is listed for sale or just after a home is purchased. Over the last 3 years, the soft floor covering industry has been down approximately 30% in units.

To mitigate the impact of floor business, we have curtailed capacity and significantly lowered costs. Over the 3-year period, including this year, we have lowered costs by nearly $60 million. This has been accomplished by restructuring our operations and reducing costs in almost every phase of our business. In preparation for next year, we have developed an additional profit improvement plan of $10 million, which will be 90% in place by the end of the year. We have also continued to minimize capital expenditures and closely manage our working capital. As a result, in the last year, we have lowered our net debt by over $12 million.

Obviously, tariffs have been a major area of concern for our industry and industry generally. Since we produce most of our products domestically, it has less impact on our company than some others. We have monitored these actions closely and have initiated price increases to mitigate the impact of the tariff increases when appropriate. We have also increased prices in the fourth quarter on all soft floor covering product as has most of the industry, which will have a major impact on our financial results next year.

For the third quarter and for the first 9 months of 2025, our year-over-year soft surface net sales were down less than 1%, outperforming the industry, which we believe was down closer to 4% in the quarter and 6% for the first 9 months. Our commitment to the luxury end of the market has enabled us to continue to outperform the market during these difficult times. A key growth segment has been our DuraSilk, SD collection, which has shown strong growth and gained share of the polyester market. Our high-end carpet segment also had positive growth in the quarter for both nylon and decorative products. Building on this momentum, in the third quarter, we introduced 2 new DuraSilk polyester carpet styles and 6 new decorative carpet styles.

In our hard surface segment, our fabric of wood is a highlight with net sales increasing over 17% year-over-year for the first 9 months. While our TRUCOR segment declined for the quarter, our TRUCOR Prime WPC collection showed positive signs as the market is shifting toward WPC. While market headwinds persist, especially within residential housing and consumer confidence, our team remains committed to high-end customer service, design-focused product introductions and operational excellence. Our continued focus on cost reductions and operational efficiency will be instrumental in navigating industry challenges and driving improved profitability in future periods.

Subsequent to quarter end, as we said in our press release, the company has entered into a memorandum of understanding to settle 2 of its PFAS-related lawsuits, and the company has obtained an agreement in principle to be dismissed without prejudice from a third PFAS-related lawsuit. An estimated liability for the proposed settlement was recorded within the third quarter results, and the legal expenses associated with these cases are included in our administrative expenses. The proposed agreements are subject to certain conditions and final negotiations with the plaintiffs in these matters. Looking forward, we're optimistic that declining interest rates, along with the wealth effect from higher home prices and the stock market should positively impact floor covering purchases. At this time, we'll open the meeting for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Mike Hughes, private investor.

First, on the price increases. I think the price increases on the imported goods were implemented on September 30 and then the nylon polyester freight on October 20. So I assume there was not really any impact on the just reported quarter. Could you maybe help us quantify the impact from those 2 actions on the fourth quarter and then into next year? Dan, I think you mentioned that it could have a materially positive impact. How would you define materially positive?

First of all, we have had several increases on imports. We had one earlier in the summer in addition to what you outlined there as the first Liberation Day tariffs were implemented. Overall, the impact will be somewhat muted in the fourth quarter, as you pointed out, they're going into effect in the October, November time frame. And by the time you receive orders, ship the products and so forth, there is a lag. So I would say in the fourth quarter, there will be a relatively small impact, but major impact next year. And we think the impact will be somewhere in the $6 million range.

Okay. Great. Great. And then you've already addressed this to some extent, but some of the bedding and furniture players said business was pretty good in the September quarter through Labor Day and then it kind of softened. You're saying that you've experienced something a little bit different. So your business actually -- did it strengthen in October? Or how did it perform in September and then into October?

Mike, first of all, we tend to be a little different from some other people in our industry and in some other home furnishings businesses. The second and fourth quarters tend to be our best quarter. And in the high end, particularly, you begin to see a buildup of orders in September typically, which manifests itself in higher sales or shipments in October and November than slowing down in December. But our October business, I think as we outlined there, our run rate is some 12% over the third quarter, run rate and very close, very similar to what we experienced a year ago.

Okay. Good. And then the $10 million in cost takeouts that you referenced on today's call and in the press release, that's incremental beyond what you've done so far, correct? So that would be a benefit for 2026 versus '25 of $10 million. Is that -- I just want to clarify.

That is incremental from cost reductions previously, but that includes the $6 million of price increase.

And it's a year-over-year incremental improvement.

Okay. And then the other operating expenses of roughly $1 million, is that related to the legal settlements?

As we mentioned, we did record an estimate to the other operating expenses based on having reached some agreements here. Prior to this, we were not able to estimate the cost of this. These agreements are still under negotiation and subject to certain conditions, but they certainly are not final at this time. And there is obviously some confidentiality involved in that, but we're happy to be reaching the stage we're at, and we look forward to some conclusion on these lawsuits.

Okay. So I'll ask a little differently. So there's another operating expense item in the September quarter of roughly $1 million. Is it fair to think that, that will not recur in the December quarter?

There is certainly an understanding that a portion of that would not be recurring, yes.

Okay. And then last item, can you just speak to liquidity and your comfort level if let's say that mortgage rates stay where they are for the next, I don't know, 12 to 18 months, are you still comfortable with your liquidity where it stands today? Or would you take additional actions on that front?

We are -- as we talked about on the debt level, we're pleased to have been able to manage certainly within the operating cash flow and maintain our debt levels and actually reduce those over time period. But as you mentioned, everything is unpredictable out in the market right now. We're happy with the momentum we've seen here coming out of the third quarter and into the fourth quarter. But we -- as Dan mentioned, first quarter is a seasonally low period for us. So we're keeping an eye on that and we'll be looking at opportunities for financing additional availability of funds coming from additional financing to help give us a cushion through that period.

And is there any additional land that can be sold off at this point or sale leasebacks or anything like that?

Yes, we do have opportunity with several property locations that we are considering and looking at those opportunities as well as some equipment financing and just seeing what presents the best terms and amounts for us.

[Operator Instructions] Mr. Frierson, I'm seeing no other questions at this time. I'll turn the floor back to you for final comments.

Thank you, Melissa, and thank you, everyone, for being on the call. We appreciate your interest. We are mighty glad to get the PFAS lawsuits the rearview mirror and look forward to a better fourth quarter. Thank you very much.

Thank you. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.