CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (SGX:C38U), or CICT for short, is another REIT I am units in (you can check out a list of all the companies I have investments in here.)
This morning (28 April 2023), the commercial REIT (where it currently has 26 retail and office properties in Singapore, Germany, and Australia with a total property value of S$24.2 billion) have made available its business update for the first quarter of the financial year 2023 ended 31 March 2023.
As the REIT have switched to half-yearly reporting of its full financial results, for the current quarter under review, it has provided only a snippet of its financial figures, which I will be looking at in this post, along with its portfolio occupancy and debt profile.
Let’s begin:
Key Financial Figures (Q1 FY2022 vs. Q1 FY2023)
In this section, you’ll find some of CICT’s key financial figures reported for the current quarter under review (i.e. Q1 FY2023 ended 31 March 2023) compared against the same time period last year (i.e. Q1 FY2022 ended 31 March 2022):
| Q1 FY2022 | Q1 FY2023 | % Variance | |
| Gross Revenue (S$’mil) | $339.7m | $388.5m | +14.4% |
| Property Operating Expenses (S$’mil) | $91.4m | $112.2m | +22.8% |
| Net Property Income (S$’mil) | $248.3m | $276.3m | +11.3% |
My Observations: The double-digit percentage growth in its gross revenue and net property income (by 14.4% and 11.3% respectively) can be attributed to contributions from acquisitions completed in 1H FY2022, and higher gross rental income from existing properties, partially offset by higher operating expenses largely due to utilities and divestment of JCube in March 2022.
Portfolio Occupancy Profile (Q4 FY2022 vs. Q1 FY2023)
Moving on, let us take a look at the REIT’s portfolio occupancy profile – where I will be reviewing the statistics reported (breakdown by the different property types) for the current period under review (i.e. Q1 FY2023 ended 31 March 2023) compared against tat reported in the previous quarter 3 months ago (i.e. Q4 FY2022 ended 31 December 2022) to find out whether it has continued to remain resilient:
| Q4 FY2022 | Q1 FY2023 | |
| Portfolio Occupancy (%) (Retail) | 98.3% | 98.5% |
| Portfolio WALE (by GRI -years) (Retail) | 2.2 years | 2.2 years |
| Portfolio Occupancy (%) (Office) | 94.4% | 94.8% |
| Portfolio WALE (by GRI -years) (Office) | 3.8 years | 3.7 years |
| Portfolio Occupancy (%) (Integrated Development) | 97.1% | 97.5% |
| Portfolio WALE (by GRI -years) (Integrated Development) | 5.2 years | 5.4 years |
My Observations: Its very good to see occupancy rates of its retail, office, and integrated properties further improve. Rental reversions for new and renewed leases for its retail and office portfolio were also positive, at +6.0% and +4.2% respectively.
On lease expiries over the next 4 years (between the remaining 3 quarters of FY2023, and FY2026) were also very well-staggered, where about 10.0% of its retail leases, and about 5.0% of its office leases expiring in a single year.
Finally, in terms of income contribution, top 10 tenants contribute 20.3% towards the REIT’s total gross rental income, with no single tenant contributing more than 5.5%.
Debt Profile (Q4 FY2022 vs. Q1 FY2023)
Just like how I have reviewed the REIT’s portfolio occupancy profile in the previous section, I will also be looking at its debt profile by comparing the statistics reported for the current quarter under review (i.e. Q1 FY2023 ended 31 March 2023) against that reported in the previous quarter 3 months ago (i.e. Q4 FY2022 ended 31 December 2022) to find out if it has continued to remain healthy:
| Q4 FY2022 | Q1 FY2023 | |
| Aggregate Leverage (%) | 40.4% | 40.9% |
| Interest Coverage Ratio (times) | 3.7x | 3.4x |
| Average Term to Debt Maturity (years) | 3.9 years | 4.2 years |
| Average Cost of Debt (%) | 2.7% | 3.1% |
| % of Borrowings Hedged at Fixed Rates (%) | 81% | 77% |
My Observations: In light of the current rising interest rate environment, no surprises there that the REIT’s debt profile for the current quarter under review, compared to the previous quarter 3 months ago, have weakened slightly – that said, its aggregate leverage (currently at 40.9%), is still a distance away from the regulatory limit of 50.0%.
As far as debt maturity is concerned, for the rest of the current financial year 2023, only 4% (or S$430m) of borrowings are due for refinancing, which is minimal in my opinion. In the financial years ahead, 16% (or S$1,606m) of borrowings will be due in FY2024, 13% (or S$1,297m) of borrowings will be due in FY2025, 16% (or S$1,594m) of borrowings will be due in FY2026, and a huge chunk (51%, or S$5,170m) of borrowings will be due only in FY2027 and beyond.
Closing Thoughts
It’s a rather resilient set of results reported by the REIT in my opinion – with a double-digit percentage growth in its financial figures (gross revenue and net property income) contributed by new acquisitions.
Portfolio occupancy of its retail properties in Singapore (at 98.5%), office properties in Singapore, Germany, and Australia (at 96.7%, 94.6%, and 83.4% respectively), and its integrated development properties in Singapore (at 97.5%), is a very strong one.
Finally, no doubt its debt profile have weakened slightly compared to the last quarter 3 months ago, but is aggregate leverage (at 40.9%) is still a distance away to the 50.0% regulatory limit. Also, for the remaining 3 quarters of the current financial year, only 4% of borrowings are due for refinancing.
With that, I have come to the end of CICT’s latest Q1 FY2023 business update. Hope you’ve found the information presented in this post useful, and at the same time, do take note that it is not a recommendation to buy or sell the REIT’s units. As always, you should do your due diligence before you make any investment decisions.
Learn More about CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust at the Upcoming REITs Symposium 2023
If you like to learn more about CICT, or any of the other CapitaLand REITS (such as CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, CapitaLand Ascott Trust, and CapitaLand China Trust), be sure to attend the upcoming REITs Symposium 2023 (a one-day event held on Saturday, 20 May 2023, from 9am to 6pm, at Suntec Convention Summit 1 & 2), as the CapitaLand REITs will have a booth set up, with representatives present for you to ask any questions you may have.
The quartet of CapitaLand REITs aren’t the only REITs participating in the event – you’ll find more than 20 Singapore-listed REITs (including the 4 CapitaLand REITs) having booths set up for you to learn more about them. On top of that, there will also be a series of panel discussions where ‘hot button’ topics will be discussed with industry experts, including outlook for the second half of 2023, whether REITs still make a viable investment given the current high interest rate environment, how retail investors can manage their REIT portfolio passively and effortlessly, opportunities and challenges in a post-pandemic era, and more.
You can also catch up with me in-person as I am also one of the panelists for the event, where I will be sharing (together with veterans Gabriel Yap and Willie Keng) how we build our REITs portfolio in a session ‘Show & Tell: Maximising Passive Income from REITs’ between 5.00pm and 5.45pm.
You can find out more about the 1-day event, as well as secure your seat here (for friends of ‘The Singaporean Investor’, you can apply the following code RS23JY to enjoy a 50% off your ticket to the event, if you are among the first to apply this code – please note that if the discount is not reflected even after applying the discount code, it means that they have all been snapped up.)
Related Documents
Disclaimer: At the time of writing, I am a unitholder of CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust.
Launch Event for My First Book: building your REIT-irement portfolio
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