The REIT sector may be facing headwinds from a combination of high inflation and surging interest rates, but don’t tell that to CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (SGX: C38U), or CICT. The retail and commercial REIT just reported its fiscal 2023’s first half (1H 2023) results and joins a rare group of REITs that managed to report higher distributions despite these twin challenges. Last week saw data centre REIT Keppel DC REIT (SGX: AJBU) and healthcare REIT Parkway Life REIT (SGX: C2PU) announce year-on-year distribution per unit (DPU) increases. The better performance came about because of acquisitions, proactive asset management, and asset enhancement initiatives (AEIs). Let us dive in to review five aspects of CICT’s latest earnings report.

1. A strong financial performance

For 1H 2023, CICT reported a 12.7% year on year rise in gross revenue to S$774.8 million. Revenue was driven by the REIT’s acquisitions and the completed AEI at Raffles City. Net property income climbed 10.1% year on year to S$552.3 million....