Mannington Mills Inc. and DuPont have announced an exclusive, multi-year agreement where Mannington will market newly developed coatings for resilient, laminate and wood flooring products using the DuPont Teflon brand.

Burlington Industries Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. have executed a definitive agreement for Berkshire Hathaway to acquire Burlington Industries.

In March, Pacific Northwest flooring distributor Wanke Cascade will host daylong flooring installation fairs in Portland and Seattle.

The nation's unemployment rate dropped to 5.7 percent in January as businesses added 143,000 new jobs, the Labor Department reported.

Mohawk Industries Inc. announced record net earnings and diluted earnings per share (EPS) for the fourth quarter of 2002 with $84,201,000 (42 percent above last year) in net earnings or $1.25 per share (13 percent above last year).

Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (LP) announced that Daniel K. Frierson, chairman & chief executive officer of The Dixie Group, has been elected to the board of directors, effective Feb. 1, 2003.

Factory orders went up 0.4 percent in December, the second advance in the last three months.

Tandus Group Inc. recently announced the appointment of Ralph Grogan as president of Monterey Carpets.

USG Corp. reported fourth quarter 2002 net sales of $851 million and net earnings of $21 million.

New construction spending jumped an unexpected 1.2 percent in December due to a surge in residential building, the Commerce Department reported.