Earnings fall at Casual Male

Casual Male Retail Group Inc. said today that fiscal first-quarter earnings fell 19 percent from the year-ago period, which included an extraordinary gain.

Net income in the quarter ended May 5 fell to $1.1 million, or 3 cents per share, from $1.4 million, or 4 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Last year's first quarter included a gain of 2 cents per share from the sale of a unit.

The number of weighted-average common shares outstanding increased during the quarter to about 44.4 million from 37.1.

Casual Male, whose chains include Rochester Big & Tall and B&T Factory Direct, reported sales climbed 8 percent to $111.3 million from $102.9 million. Analysts were expecting sales of $111.9 million.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, jumped 6.2 percent. Same-store sales is an important retail metric because it measures sales growth from established outlets rather than sales growth from newly opened outlets. (AP)