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I've just returned from some filming in Moodiesburn, Lanarkshire, which boasts a Scottish exports success story that is actually doing well out of recession.

Devro produces the skins for more than half of Britain's sausages. That's more than 1.6 billion bangers. The company also has operations in the Czech Republic, Australia and the USA, extracting collagen from animal hide to produce edible tubes in mind-boggling quantities, of varying width, colour and crunchability.

Apparently, the French like their saucissons to be a bit more resistant to biting than the Brits, the Germans are less concerned about their wurst being fresh, while the Chinese represent a promising new market, developing a taste for western-style bangers.

With sausages one of the products doing well out of people 'trading down' from pre-cooked and premium foods, it was announced today that Devro's underlying profits for last year were up 21%.

Helped by sterling's decline, the figures represent modest progress in volume terms, but any positive growth is a rarity in today's economy. Watch out, however, for the pensions warning in the annual report, with the fall in asset valuations last year leaving a large gap in liabilities. Expect to hear lots more about that from across the corporate world.

And there are perverse effects from recession. One of the clouds on Devro's horizon is that the downturn in the furniture business and aerospace, with their demand for leather, means that the hides required for collagen, produced as a side product of leather in tanneries, are going to get harder to source and possibly more expensive.

To underline the effect of trading down in food sales, Domino's Pizza today announced profits up nearly 25%, with people shunning restaurants and staying in. With a trading update also out today, Asda is crediting its low cost brands with healthy sales figures.

This effect is particularly noticeable in food, because, of course, people have to keep buying it. It's hard to find with cars or kitchens, for instance, where people can defer purchases for years.

But it extends elsewhere. Pontin's holiday camps are going for a major investment and expansion, claiming to have a sharp increase in bookings, while L'Oreal cosmetics company announced today it's going for its own lower-cost value range.

About time too. I'm no expert, but I've long thought cosmetics hugely overpriced.