CLI fee revenue up 10% in Q1 as real estate investment business revenue softens 14%; potential inflation may weigh on asset operations

[SINGAPORE] CapitaLand Investment (CLI) recorded a fee-related revenue of S$310 million for the first quarter ended Mar 31, up 10 per cent from S$281 million in the year-ago period.

For the quarter, its total revenue stood at S$487 million, amid higher contributions from the fee-related business, which makes up 59 per cent of total revenue, CLI said on Wednesday (Apr 29).

This was partly offset by lower contributions from the real estate investment business, which declined 14 per cent to S$207 million from S$242 million, mainly due to the absence of contributions following divestments. This segment makes up 41 per cent of total revenue.

Softer real estate investment business revenue followed the divestments of the Synergy platform, a US corporate housing asset, and Dalian IT Park, but was partly offset by the sale of legacy One iPark, said CLI.

Gains for the fee-related business were underpinned by CLI’s funds platform, amid increases across its listed funds management, private funds management and commercial management segments.

Notably, the private funds platform’s total funds under management (FUM) stood at S$50 billion as at Mar 31, across 62 funds. The bulk of this comes from China, with FUM of S$22.9 billion and 35 assets. On Thursday, CLI announced a deal to manage Income Insurance’s S$2.4 billion real estate investment portfolio of retail, commercial and industrial assets. This brought the value of Singapore deals completed by CLI over the past 16 months to more than S$12.1 billion.

Last week, CLI’s listed fund CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT) announced the S$3.9 billion acquisition of Orchard Road trophy mall Paragon, with the purchase to be partly funded by its S$2.5 billion sale of Asia Square Tower 2.

For the first quarter ended March, the lodging management segment posted a stable year-on-year performance. Revenue per available unit (RevPAU) increased 3 per cent on the year amid a three percentage point rise in occupancy.

The growth was led by Japan and South Korea, the segment’s fastest growing markets, which registered a RevPAU of S$188 for Q1, up 7 per cent on the year from S$176, alongside a 7 percentage point rise in occupancy.

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CLI said its Asia markets – including Singapore, Malaysia and India – continued to deliver strong occupancies and positive rental reversions.

However, the China, as well as UK and Europe markets faced rental pressures, while the Australia and Korea markets reflected “stable but moderating trends”.

As at Mar 31, CLI’s interest coverage ratio stood at 3.9 times, compared with 4.2 times for financial year 2025.

Its average debt maturity was 2.9 years as at end-March, down from 3.1 years for the previous financial year, with fixed-rate debt at 73 per cent, compared with 72 per cent for FY2025.

Operating cash flow as at Q1 2026 stood at S$289 million, from S$255 million in Q1 2025.

CLI noted that uncertain market conditions are expected to moderate the pace of capital raising and deployment, and it intends to continue its focus on risk-adjusted returns.

“Potential inflation-driven cost pressures may weigh on asset operations, reinforcing ongoing portfolio optimisation and cost discipline,” said CLI.

The group said it will continue to focus on lodging and living, logistics and self-storage, as well as real estate credit in markets including Singapore, Japan and Australia.

In a separate statement, CICT said its private placement of around 326.1 million new units has been issued at S$2.30 apiece. This brings its total issued units to 7.95 billion, with the new units to start trading on Wednesday.

The counter ended Tuesday at S$2.81, down 0.7 per cent or S$0.02.