Casual Male Retail Group reports 4th-quarter profit as cost-cutting offsets sales decline

Casual Male Retail Group reports 4Q profit

CANTON, Mass. — Men’s clothing seller Casual Male Retail Group Inc. on Thursday reported earning a profit in the fourth quarter as it cut costs to compensate for sales being weak.

Casual Male’s profit for the three months that ended Jan. 30 was $3.6 million, or 8 cents per share. A year earlier, it recorded a loss of $108 million, or $2.61 per share. Excluding impairment and other charges, the fourth-quarter loss a year ago was 14 cents per share.

Revenue fell 10 percent to $110.7 million from $123.1 million a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters on average expected a profit of 5 cents per share on revenue of $110.7 million.

For the year, Casual Male earned $6.1 million, or 14 cents per share, compared with a loss of $109.3 million, or $2.64 per share in fiscal 2008. But its revenue fell 11 percent to $395.2 million from $444.2 million in fiscal 2008.

In the current fiscal year, Casual Male, based in Canton, Mass., expects to earn 23 cents to 26 cents per share on revenue of $385 million to $395 million.

Analysts expect earnings of 23 cents per share on revenue of $389.7 million.

Shares fell 28 cents, or 7.2 percent, to $3.63, during midday trading. The stock has traded between 27 cents and $4.20 over the past year.