CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust - Annual Report 2021

CapitaLand’s philanthropic arm, in reaching out to vulnerable groups. At our invitation, tenants and employees volunteered their time to enhance the children’s social growth and development and provided vulnerable seniors with better nutrition, improved well-being and living conditions. A total of 92 tenant volunteers participated in these activities in FY 2021. Our sustainability efforts are detailed in various sections of this annual report. FORGING AHEAD TOGETHER As we enter a new financial year, we remain cautiously optimistic. We expect rising retail and office market rents in Singapore to be supported by the limited gross new completions in the next three years. Particularly, there are no major retail supply coming onstream in the downtown area. Additionally, Singapore is poised to benefit from the improvement in economic activity and consumer sentiment and the progressive lifting of border restrictions in 2022. This outlook will bode well for CICT. If more VTLs open in 2022, an expected increase in tourists will boost hotel occupancy and shopper traffic at our downtown malls. These malls will also benefit from higher shopper traffic as more employees return to the office, with tenants’ sales rising in tandem. We will continue to optimise our portfolio and explore potential AEIs. Plans are already underway for a repositioning of Clarke Quay. We are pressing ahead with our portfolio reconstitution strategy, while concurrently seeking opportunities especially to strengthen our position in our home market Singapore, and to deepen our presence in Germany and Australia. This will further establish CICT as the best proxy for Singapore commercial real estate, with the flexibility to augment its income growth in other developed markets. Meanwhile, we remain committed to a proactive and prudent capital management strategy. Facilities are in place to refinance loans that are maturing in 2022. Concurrently, we work on enhancing our financial flexibility as we continue to pursue strategic growth opportunities in the respective target markets. Capitalising on our position as one of Asia Pacific’s largest REITs, our leadership, resilience and scale will enable us to capture growth opportunities and optimise our potential. At the same time, we will stay proactive and flexible in safeguarding the well-being of our stakeholders as we navigate the challenges of the global pandemic. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS On behalf of the Board, we extend our deepest appreciation to Mr Lee Khai Fatt, Kyle and Mr Ng Wai King, who stepped down with effect from 1 November 2021. Mr Lee had served as a Non-Executive Independent Director for nine years and Chairman of the Audit Committee, while Mr Ng was a Non-Executive Independent Director and a Member of the Audit Committee. We are grateful for their invaluable contributions to theBoardand themanagement. We welcome Ms Jeann Low and Mr Stephen Lim, new directors to the Board in August 2021. Joining us as Non-Executive Independent Directors, their expertise will contribute to the Board and management’s bench strength. The year 2022 marks CICT’s 20 th year of listing on the Singapore Exchange. We offer our sincere thanks to our past and present Board members for their guidance throughout the years, as well as our Unitholders and employees for their unwavering support and dedication. As we forge ahead together amidst uncertain times, we stand committed to build on our strengths, capture growth opportunities and deliver sustainable value. TEO SWEE LIAN Chairman TONY TAN TEE HIEONG Chief Executive Officer 24 February 2022 Annual Report 2021 17 Message to Unitholders