CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Terence from Investor Relations. Welcome to 622 Lorong 1, Toa Payoh, a property that we just recently acquired earlier this year. Thank you for attending Capital Land Ascendas REIT Financial Results Briefing for the period ending 30 June 2023. We have management representatives from the Clare Management today. They are Mr. William Tay, CEO, Ms. Koo Lee Tzu, CFO, Ms. Yao Kik Peng, Head of Capital Markets and Investor Relations, and Mr. James Goh, Head of Portfolio Management. Today's briefing will consist of a presentation followed by a Q&A session. Please note that today's Session will be recorded and will be available via webcast. Before we start, let me brief you those present on the fire evacuation plans. These are the fire evacuation routes for you to take to the assembly area. The next slide shows you the assembly area besides this building. We will now proceed with the presentation of our financial results for the first half period ended 30 of June 2023. You'll be presented by Ms. Yao Kik Peng, Head of Capital Markets and Investor Relations. Kik Peng, please.

Good evening, everybody, and welcome to Capital Land Ascendas REIT first half 2023 results briefing. Key highlights, financial performance, The distribution income for the first half of 2023 is 1% lower at $327.5 million. Distribution per unit is $7.719, 2% lower year-on-year. Investment properties, $17 billion, 2.5% higher than 30 June 2022. On the asset management side, portfolio occupancy was stable at 94.4%, and a positive rental reversion of 14.2% was achieved. For capital management, leverage was 36.7%, and we continue to maintain a high level of natural hedge at 75%. Let's dive in. So this is first half 23 versus first half 2022. Gross revenue is up 7.7% to $718.1 million. And this is mainly driven by the three acquisitions in Singapore in the first half of the year. So the three properties are TOPAIO PROPERTY, ONE BURO LANE AS WELL AS THE SUGAR THAT WERE ACQUIRED IN THE FIRST HALF. NET PROPERTY INCOME INCREASED 6.7% TO $508.8 MILLION AND IS CORRESPONDENT TO THE GRASS REVENUE, HOWEVER, OFFSET BY SLIGHTLY HIGHER OPERATING EXPENSES. The total amount for distribution declined 1% and this is mainly due to the increase in borrowing costs on rising interest rates as well as a higher loan quantum as we buy more properties. DPU fell by 2% to 7.719 cents. And this takes into account the lower distribution and as well as the enlarged unit base following the issuance of new units during the private placement in May. So this is first half 2023 versus second half 2022. Same reasons here. So grounds revenue is up 4.7%. and that is driven by the contribution of the three Singapore properties and for net property income similarly also driven by the new acquisitions as well as partially offset by an increase in the operating expense so distribution fell by 1.7% and mainly due to higher borrowing costs DPU fell in tandem and of course due to the large number of units following the private placement in May. Distribution for the period of 25th May to 30th June will be distributing 1.578 cents and you'll be getting the distribution on 1st September. Moving on to investment management. So these are the three properties that were acquired in the first half. They are all in Singapore. The total acquisition cost amounted to almost $515 million. These are very well located and good quality properties, and very importantly, they are accretive. So during the same period, we also divested a property, KA Place, for $35.4 million and at a very high premium of 55% to the valuation. So this is overall in line with our strategy to deploy capital towards value-adding opportunities, thereby improving the quality of our portfolio.

Okay.