British Land, one of Britain's biggest landlords, is confident demand for space in its shopping centres, which include Meadowhall in Sheffield and Drake Circus in Plymouth, will continue despite a wave of shop closures around the country.
Sluggish consumer spending has prompted hundreds of high street store closures, led by Mothercare, which is shutting 110 shops, Oddbins and HMV.
But British Land's chief executive, Chris Grigg, said his company could benefit from the closures if it can negotiate higher rents with new tenants in its shopping centres. Virtually all of British Land's shop space is currently let.
"We would expect to be able to replace those units. But if you're in secondary [lower-quality] retail space, the departure of Mothercare will be pretty brutal," he said. The baby goods chain blamed the decline of high street trading and exorbitant rents for its decision.
A rising number of pound shops are moving to shopping centres, taking advantage of the belt-tightening among consumers, and Grigg said the challenge was to "make sure they fit".
He also said he was happy with the 65%-35% split between retail and offices in British Land's portfolio.
"We feel optimistic for the future," he said. "We're invested in the right sectors – high-quality retail and central London offices – and we've seen rising rental values in both. The stories around retail are pretty tough but retailers are prepared to come to the right places."
The comments triggered hopes of a revival in the commercial property market, which has been languishing since its rapid recovery from the property slump.
Chairman Chris Gibson-Smith added: "While, as a nation, we have moved from 'recession' to the 'age of austerity', consumers are still shopping and good businesses are looking to grow."
British Land posted better-than-expected results on Monday. It reported a 12.5% increase in net asset value per share to 567p and a 2.8% rise in underlying profits before tax to £256m. The value of the group's portfolio climbed by 6.9%. JP Morgan Cazenove analyst Harm Meijer described the results as "strong, but not as strong as Land Securities's results".
British Land received a boost last week when it leased a third of its under-construction Cheesegrater tower to insurer Aon. This means 40% of new developments are pre-let across the group.
It is awaiting a decision by English Heritage on whether the Broadgate complex next to Liverpool Street station should be granted listed status. British Land and its partner Blackstone plan to knock down two of the main buildings - which embody the brash culture of the 1980s boom - and replace them with a £340m headquarters for the Swiss bank UBS. The proposal has got the backing of the City of London Corporation but the row over the buildings' future has sparked a debate about the preservation of 1980s architecture.
Grigg said: "We've seen the listing proposal and we think it's weak. You need to have strong reasons for listing a building that is less than 30 years old. There are also economic considerations."
English Heritage's recommendation is expected in June.