The death of the high street has been greatly exaggerated, according to the owner of Primark.

Associated British Foods is confident that the retail sector will pick up once again, despite a terrible few months for UK retailers that saw HMV, Blockbuster, Comet and Jessops all fail.

John Bason, finance director of ABF, declared he was confident the high street would “regenerate” in time.

“I would be amazed if anybody is calling the end of the high street,” he said. “The shape of the high street will change, but as it always has done.”

Rob Williams, head of retail agency and development at Strutt & Parker, said: “The national media coverage of the retailing high street scene generally takes UK averages, which paint a picture of mediocrity. However, if one looks in more detail at individual locations, whilst some are undoubtedly suffering, others have been making good steady progress both in terms of vacancy and rental levels over the past few years.”

The expression of confidence came amid increased sales of the company’s budget fashion ranges, announced in its pre close period trading update, with new store openings and a 7% in jump in “like-for-like” sales at existing shops behind the strong performance.

Despite many consumers heading online, Primark gained even more popularity with cost-conscious consumers, experiencing enhanced performance thanks to very strong like-for-like sales growth, a substantial increase in retail selling space and superior sales densities in the larger new stores.

Mr Williams added: “The high street winners, outside of the M25, have generally tended to be the dominant regional shopping locations, South East biased retail locations with affluent catchments, or the more attractive market towns and cathedral cities throughout the UK and we anticipate that this trend is set to continue.”