Profits at the G101 off-licence chain, which is owned by George King, the father of nightclub entrepreneur Stefan King, have continued to drain away amid stiff competition from supermarkets.

The firm, which according to its website has 47 stores largely in the Glasgow area, many of them in large housing schemes and in the grittier areas of the city, unveiled a pre-tax profit of £452,261 for the year to the end of May 2007, compared with £601,664 the year before.

G101's latest set of accounts, obtained by The Herald from Companies House, also reveal that sales slipped to £34.7m, compared with £34.9m last time.

When The Herald asked for comment from the Glasgow-based firm, a spokeswoman at G101's Giffnock headquarters replied curtly: "No, there is no- one here who can do that."

Along with its shops, G101 also supplies alcohol to Stefan King's restaurant, bar and nightclub empire G1Group, whose string of venues includes the Corinthian and Arta in Glasgow, Charlie's in Aber-deen and Picardy Place in Edinburgh.

According to G101's website, the firm employs 375 staff and its portfolio includes "convenience stores, warehousing, storage and distribution and a fully-bonded warehouse".

Staff costs for the year climbed to £4.3m, compared with £4.1m the year before.

The website adds: "In 2004, our convenience store in The Murray, East Kilbride, won the Wiseman's award for Excellence in Milk Merchandising and Marketing. Similarly, we pride ourselves on extremely competitive prices in both alcohol and convenience sales."

G101 has previously admitted that profitability has suffered as a result of heavy discounting by the big supermarkets.

Meanwhile, the accounts also note that the directors' pay climbed to £43,175, compared with £34,655 the previous year.

An interim dividend of £227,500 was also shared among the firm's three directors - although the accounts provided no details of the split in stakeholding. However, George King is understood to own the bulk of the shares, although he had not paid himself a dividend in three years.