After a couple of down years, the parent company of Masland Carpets & Rugs, Dixie Group, said it has seen its sales return to normal patterns with the demand of higher-priced residential carpet and a continuous pick up of commercial carpet.

The results have seen Dixie Group report its first quarterly profit since 2008.

With the profit, the company, which employs 412 people in Atmore at Masland expects sales growth during 2011.

After reporting a loss of $3.6 million through the final quarter of 2009, Dixie Group reported a profit turn of $516,000 in the fourth quarter of 2010, which was the first profit for the company since the second quarter of 2008.

According to Dan Frierson, the chairman and chief executive officer of Dixie Group said some places in the stock market are seeing more growth than others.

“Certainly the upper end of the market seems to be experiencing more growth than the market in general,” he said.

With the demand rising, Masland in Atmore has been able to add 50 employees with those employees working overtime to meet the demand of the current production that is up 35 percent.

For more information on Masland Carpets & Rugs, visit the Dixie Group’s Web site at www.thedixiegroup.com