May 21 (Reuters) - Casual Male Retail Group Inc (CMRG.O), which makes clothing for larger men, posted a surprise first-quarter profit as it managed its costs better, sending its shares up as much as 29 percent.

Casual Male Retail, Spring 2009

The company, which operates the Casual Male XL and Rochester Big and Tall Stores as well as a catalog and e-commerce business, said it continues to expect sales for the year to decline about 10 percent.

For the first quarter, it reported income of $336,000, or 1 cent a share, compared with $96,000, or breakeven, a year ago.

Sales fell 9 percent to $97.6 million, while comparable sales for the 13-week period ended May 2 fell 10.7 percent.

Two analysts on average were expecting company to post a loss of 3 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Selling, general and administrative expenses fell 14.2 percent to $37.1 million for the quarter.

"The cost reductions implemented during the quarter relate primarily to re-focusing our marketing spend..., reductions in our corporate headcount, store and distribution productivity improvements, and renegotiation of numerous service and supply contracts," the company said.

Shares of the Canton, Massachusetts-based company touched a high of $1.70 before shedding some gains to trade up 22 cents at $1.54 on the morning of Thursday 21 May on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Poojya Trivedi in Bangalore; Editing by Himani Sarkar)