Profits at the Trespass outdoor clothing empire fell for the third year on the back of "tough" trading and increased costs - but its owners said they remained confident the "business is well-positioned to weather the financial storm".

Accounts for brothers Afzal and Akmal Khushi's international sportswear company, Jacobs & Turner, which combines manufacturing and retailing operations, show pre-tax profits plunged by 63% to £2.2m during the year to the end of June 2008, compared with just under £6m the year before.

The latest fall comes after earnings tumbled 22% the previous year - in spite of assurances that the company's fortunes would improve after its recently-opened stores bedded down.

However, the directors appear to believe that moves to grow the company's retail business to reduce its reliance on selling goods to other firms, will eventually come good. But they also said they would slow down the planned retail expansion as recession continued to plague the economy.

The publicity-shy Khushi brothers could not be reached for comment yesterday.

A spokesman at the group's Glasgow-based headquarters said: "They won't be around today."

However, the directors' report in the latest set of accounts, obtained by The Herald from Companies House, state: "The economy changed radically during the year, making for a difficult trading environment.

"Global recession was now evident, credit was drying up as well as the fall in exchange rates, particularly the US dollar and the euro. All of these things were making business difficult and putting pressure on margins."

"Regardless of the above, a number of new shops were opened in the year - although the continuance of this programme has slowed down."

They added: "A platform for further growth on the retail side will almost inevitably come along as other opportunities struggle and opportunities present themselves."

The Trespass website shows the company currently operates 57 stores in the UK, compared with 48 last year. The empire stretches from Fort William to the Isle of Wight, in southern England.

The group also operates almost 30 around the world, stretching from Europe to Dubai and Israel in the Middle East, and Steamboat Springs, Colorado in the US.

The accounts reveal that while turnover climbed to £39.6m during the financial year, compared with £35.9m last time, the cost of sales surged £21.7m, compared with £17.7m the year before.

Staff costs also rocketed to £7.7m, compared with £5.1m the year before, as the number of company employees climbed to 611, up from 360 previously.

Nonetheless, the Khushi brothers are unlikely to have lost much sleep about the apparent reversal of fortunes, after years in which the success of the family-owned firm has helped them cement their place among Scotland's richest people.

The brothers are ranked 50th equal in the latest Rich List for Scotland compiled by the Sunday Times, which estimated their wealth at £85m.

In the year to June, the two brother directors of Jacobs & Turner shared total pay of £221,090, compared with 223,182 last time. The highest-paid director received £110,572.

Afzal and Akmal Khushi's father, Mohammad, who died two years year ago, bought Jacobs & Turner for just £1000 in 1966, some 15 years after immigrating from India to Glasgow in 1951.

He expanded its range from winter clothing to include sportswear, summer clothing, and ski-wear.

The sons joined the business in 1977.