In Australia, we are encouraged by the positive takeup from our proactive leasing efforts and initiatives to provide fitted-out workspace to target different market segments for occupiers. We are looking forward to strengthening the positioning of our assets in North Sydney through our ongoing value creation efforts. As at 31 December 2023, CICT’s Australia and Germany portfolio maintained occupancies of 88.5% and 94.5%. The occupancies were above JLL’s market occupancy for Sydney CBD at 85.6% and North Sydney CBD at 78.9%, as well as CBRE’s market occupancy for Frankfurt, Germany at 91.1%. STAYING AGILE As the global economy evolves, we embrace innovation, diversity and collaboration as catalysts for growth. This way, we continue to be at the forefront of industry trends and address the evolving needs of our stakeholders. We adjust our strategy and operations with the normalisation of hybrid work arrangements and a more mobile workforce. We implement core-and-flex solutions and activate communal spaces to tailor leases to tenants’ requirements, allowing corporates to scale rapidly or access additional meeting or event facilities both within our property and across CICT’s portfolio. For retail, we actively curate new experiences to delight shoppers such as bringing in new-to-market concepts and partnering retailers to implement omnichannel shopping experiences. We continue to leverage the all-in-one CapitaStar ecosystem to engage our shoppers and tenants. Retail customers can enjoy benefits fromshopping and dining deals on the app. Similarly, our office community stays digitally connected through the CapitaStar@Work app and enjoys an enhanced workspace experience such as being privy to community events and having access to exclusive deals by our retail partners. DRIVING SUSTAINABILITY On our sustainability journey, we seek to embed sustainable practices in every aspect of our business and asset life cycle plans. We are aligned with our sponsor, CLI, in our commitment to Net Zero by 2050, with plans to achieve our targets in line with the 2030 SMP. Striving for carbon neutrality, we actively explore renewable energy sources for our portfolio. With the successful implementation of a solar photovoltaic system at IMM Building, we are exploring to extend this initiative to other retail and office properties. In Australia, we procured green energy for 66 Goulburn Street and 100 Arthur Street. Riding on technological advancements, we seek out new ideas fromstartups to drive our resource efficiency, through CLI’s annual CSXC as well as encourage employees to tap on the CapitaLand Innovation Fund to pilot green initiatives. We are humbled that our ESG efforts have been widely recognised. More information about CICT’s ESG efforts and Sustainability Highlights can be found in our SR 2023. SHAPING OUR FUTURE With a continued focus on our coremarket in Singapore, CICT will remain a proxy to Singapore commercial real estate. Despite the prevailing global uncertainties, we will maintain our vigilance and discipline in executing our strategies, allowing us to further strengthen our track record of resilience and market leadership. Our ongoing efforts to actively create value will pave the way for CICT’s future growth, given the potential for further AEIs and/or redevelopments within our diversified portfolio. Concurrently, we will explore acquisitions and portfolio reconstitution opportunities that enhance the quality of our portfolio. Maintaining our proactive capital management strategy, we will stay agile in managing our debt maturity profile and tapping on diverse funding sources. We will actively evaluate appropriate funding structures for accretive investments, which can be a combination of recycling of divestment proceeds, working with a capital partner, debt and/or equity fund raising. Given the right opportunities, we aim to lower our aggregate leverage for greater financial flexibility. As our economic environment and real estate demands evolve, we will stand ready to embrace opportunities, elevate our performance and strive for excellence to build a robust platform that delivers sustainable growth for our stakeholders. In closing, we sincerely thank our Board for their leadership, as well as our partners, our employees, and our Unitholders for the continued support. Teo Swee Lian Chairman Tony Tan Tee Hieong Chief Executive Officer March 2024 30 CAPITALAND INTEGRATED COMMERCIAL TRUST MESSAGE TO UNITHOLDERS
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