Belinda Lee: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, friends from the media, analysts, bankers, investors and fellow CDL colleagues. My name is Belinda, and I'm the Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at CDL. On behalf of the CDL management, welcome to CDL's briefing on its unaudited financial results for half year ended 30 June, 2026. Now, this is a hybrid briefing format, with both in-person here at the M Hotel Singapore and those joining us virtually on the live webcast. Thank you for being here. I know it's a very busy financial reporting season and to see so many in this room brings us much joy. So, thank you all for being here. So for today's briefing, in line with CDL's commitment to environmental sustainability, we will not be providing printed materials. Instead, please scan the QR code on the screen to download several documents that were uploaded on SGXNet this morning. They include a copy of the detailed financial results statement, a press release summarizing some of the key highlights of our performance, a presentation deck that the management will be using in a very short while. Now, for our guests that are joining us virtually, you would similarly be able to download these documents, which are available on the CDL website. I would like to introduce you to the CDL management panel. In the center, we have Mr. Kwek Leng Beng, our Executive Chairman; and followed by our Exco Members. On his right, Mr. Sherman Kwek, Group CEO; on his left, Mr. Kwek Eik Sheng, Group Chief Operating Officer; then followed by Mr. Chia Ngiang Hong, Group General Manager; and nearest to me, Ms. Yiong Yim Ming, Group Chief Financial Officer. Now the format today, briefing is in 2 parts. We will kick off with a presentation of some of the key highlights of our performance, followed later by a Q&A session. So without further ado, I would like to invite Mr. Sherman Kwek, CDL Group CEO, to kick start the presentation. Mr. Kwek, please?
Eik Tse Kwek: Hi. Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Belinda, for the introduction, and thank you for making time to come over. As Belinda has mentioned, I know it's a busy day for all of you with several earnings announcements coming out today as well. Happy to take you through our performance highlights for the first half. Yim Ming will then take you through financial highlights, the ops review for your perusal. And if you have any questions, let us know. Performance highlights, really happy to be here to share some strong results for our first half. You will see that our revenue is up over -- slightly over 60%, and our PATMI is up more than 3x or 230%. Primarily, this has been driven by our strong Singapore Property Development segment. So, we have several projects that really did well for us and we recognized revenue on -- and they were built at a faster pace. So, revenue and profit recognition came in faster as well. Obviously, one is Lumina Grand, as we've mentioned up there, that's an EC in Bukit Batok West Avenue 5. So, that has been completed. And therefore, under the prevailing rules, we recognize full revenue and profit. Other contributors that were strong were Newport. Newport Residences was launched at the beginning of this year and is now over 80% sold. And because of that project, as you know, we delayed the launch because we were going to launch right as we're going to launch the 60% ABSD on foreigners was announced, right? So, we held back on that. And as a result, the launch is delayed by quite a while. So because of that, the building completion has gone on much faster. Therefore, we are also recognizing good revenue from there. And lastly, many of our other Singapore projects continue to have steady sales. Norwood Grand, we had a bit of a slow start with Union Square Residences, which is quite a pity because it's in such a beautiful mixed-use development and in a really great fringe CBD location, but glad to see that sales have really started to pick up as well over the last couple of months. And you'll see that across the board, all of our core operating segments have shown strong operating results. As I mentioned earlier, Newport Residences was a great launch for us. And then we've had a very resilient performance with so-called the commercial portfolio, comprising office and retail. We're still doing really well and trading above actually the market average. And the U.K. commercial has held steady, too. On the residential market in Singapore, I think this year, we've continued to see a good, stable price growth. So far, I think year-to-date, it's about 1.4% according to the URA private residential price index. And the volume has been about slightly over 4,000 units year-to-date, about 4,100. Are we going to hit the 10,000 that the market did last year? May not. I think it's -- and primarily, it's because there's been less launches in the first half this year. So, let's see how the back half stacks up. But I think we should get within the range of maybe 8,000 to 10,000 by the time we end this year. But yes -- so it's been a really good start for us and actually underpinning our entire first half has been a strong Singapore property development revenue and profit. Noticeably absent from this, our capital recycling gains. We have certainly pushed hard for the first half this year. But I think with a lot of different factors such as the Middle East conflict, which continues to be quite prolonged and rages on, as well as the fact that we've seen a lot of turbulence here and there. I mean, the U.K. went through their own political upheaval with the change of government and all that. So, I think that has dampened a bit of investor optimism in the first half. But I see that momentum coming back now. So, our divestments will probably be more weighted on the second half. I'm not sure whether they will complete in the second half or into next year. But certainly, there are several in the pipeline, and we hope to be able to share more exciting news on that. But as mentioned at previous analyst and media briefings, I mean, capital recycling is going to be a core part of our DNA and our business as usual in future. So, we really got to get that ramped up, and that will really provide a stronger base for our results. Going into the next slide, we have our NAV and shareholder returns. So, you can see that predominantly, I think NAV and RNAV are pretty stable. This year, we declared an interim dividend of $0.06, which is double what we declared for the half year of last year. And obviously, we have made a commitment to the market that we will hit a minimum of 35% dividend payout. So, we're leaving it more for the full year. And share price performance, and this was as of year-to-date as of 30th June, but obviously, we are all very pleased to see the rally today. Our segment analysis and if you look at the fair value, I mean, our assets have ticked up slightly from $35 billion to $36 billion. And business segments or the IP, DP, there are some changes in terms of geography as well. But predominantly, I think that really fluctuates depending on how much DP we have at any one point in time. You will notice that this year, we haven't made any significant investments. Neither, as I mentioned earlier, have we made any significant -- sorry, we haven't made any significant divestments. And in terms of investments, we have mainly made 2, and those are the 2 GLS sites that we acquired in Singapore. And one is Tanjong Rhu Road and the other is Peck Hay, which is Scotts Road based of CanningHill area. So, these are -- this is the completed project, Lumina Grand at Bukit Batok West Avenue 5, I mentioned. Norwood Grand, 92% sold and just TOP-ed earlier this month, so about 2 weeks ago. And then our upcoming project completions for the rest of this year, we have CanningHill Piers, our JV with CapitaLand, as well as the Myst and both are substantially sold. As mentioned earlier, the only investments we made this year were the 2 GLS sites in Singapore and added together with the rest of our land bank, I think we have a healthy launch pipeline of 2,200. We're comfortable with this level, and that positions us well going forward. And we obviously look forward to unveiling Lucerne Grand. That's in Lakeside Drive in -- out in Jurong West and will have magnificent views. And I really hope the project will be well received. We're doing just a little bit of marketing here for the project. So, you can see it's 5 towers, 17 stories each. And we think we designed it well, and it's directly connected to the Lakeside MRT station. So, there's always a very important amenity that buyers look at nowadays. So, please spread the word in October when we launch this, hopefully, this will garner a strong reception. This just shows you a little bit about our 2 projects that we are -- legacy assets that we are redeveloping, which all of you are very familiar with now. One is Newport Plaza, which is the name of the whole development, which was the former Fuji Xerox Towers. And then the other is Union Square, which is the former Central Mall, Central Square that whole development there. So it's coming along nicely, both of them. And as I mentioned earlier, Union Square Residences, the sales have also caught up really well. And we're really excited. The office market continues to remain strong. So, when these 2 office assets are ready, so for Newport Tower, it will be in second half of next year. That's the office component of Newport Plaza. That will be second half of next year. So, that will add about 220,000 square feet of NLA to our portfolio. And the Union Square will be sometime in 2029, and that will be 250,000 square feet. And obviously, pre-leasing efforts are strongly underway and very encouraged so far by the feedback. And our hotel portfolio has also bounced back really well, and we've taken the opportunity to continue to revamp some of our assets. So, you can see that the Millennium Knightsbridge Hotel, I mean, renovations are underway, Kings Hotel as well. And then we continue to build out the M Social Hotel in Sunnyvale that has a targeted completion towards the end of this year. And we've also finished the renovation for this Millennium Premier Hotel in Times Square, which is part of the Broadway Hotel. So it's a smaller component of it, a more premier upscale component of it. So, that's just been completed in June. So, we're excited to see that. So far, some people I know have stayed there already, and they're really pleased with it. So, great that we're refreshing our portfolio as we move along. Just a bit about our industry and sustainability recognitions. And last slide before I hand over to Yim Ming. Obviously, the thing on everyone's mind is when is your strategic review coming out? I know we've taken quite a while on it. We wanted to put -- we wanted to really spend enough time to make sure that we do a thorough review and ensure that we have a proper road map, how we're going to implement the whole strategic -- the whole refreshed strategy and how we're going to get there and ensure that every number that we share with you towards the end of September is properly backed up by how we're going to get there, what's the asset makeup within it. So, very excited to share that with you. It's more or less complete. I mean, the strategic review got approved by -- final approval by the Board yesterday, but we just need to tweak a few more things and, of course, create some nice pretty infographics to go with it. So, we thought we'll just give ourselves a little bit more time. But yes, suffice to say, it's really -- we're really excited and eager to share this with you at the end of September. So, all good to go here. Next up, I'll pass it to Yim Ming for the financial highlights. Thank you.
Yim Ming Yiong: Thank you, Sherman. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'll start off with a segmental analysis. So, this revenue growth across all segments, increase of 61% in first half of '26. EBITDA stands strong at $694 million, increase of 25.9%. I'm very pleased to report that PBT and PATMI has both roughly tripled, rising to $404 million and $302 million, respectively. So, let us delve a little bit deeper into each metric. For revenue, the group posted revenue of $2.7 billion for first half of '26, up from $1.7 billion in first half of '25. So the property development segment remained the largest contributor, with revenue surging 167%. So as Sherman has mentioned the various contributors, and we all know that revenue from Singapore development projects are recognized based on the percentage of completion method. The strong construction progress across these projects also supported the accelerated recognition of revenue during this period. So, kudos to our project team for their excellent execution and for maintaining strong momentum across our projects. For hotels, the hotel segment delivered a 6.4% increase in revenue, supported by a 4.9% growth in RevPAR. RevPAR growth was recorded across all regions with Singapore up 4%, U.S. up 10% and Australasia up a strong 14%. The strong performance in Australasia was driven by New Zealand hotels, which recorded improvements in both occupancy and room rates. This was partially offset by rest of Asia, where RevPAR were impacted by softer performance in KL, Jakarta and Manila. Hotel revenue was also boosted by the acquisition of Holiday Inn London, Kensington High Street, which we always call HIK because the name is pretty long. So, we acquired the hotel in December 2025. Hotel has performed strongly since acquisition, achieving an impressive 96% occupancy and is now the largest contributor in the U.K. portfolio. So overall, for hotel, the segment performance reflects broad-based RevPAR growth across our key segments, together with strong contribution from our newly acquired hotel. Moving on to investment properties. They also delivered a 3.2% increase in revenue, notwithstanding divestments of the Bespoke Hotel Osaka Shinsaibashi and 1250 Lakeside in Sunnyvale last year. So the growth was driven by higher contributions from our U.K. commercial properties, Jungceylon, our mall in Phuket, as well as the living sector in Singapore and the U.K. These stronger contributions more than offset the revenue from the divested assets, once again demonstrating the resilience and continued growth of our investment portfolio. Now, we move on to EBITDA. EBITDA stood at $694 million, a strong growth of 26% year-on-year. So, as I mentioned this before, EBITDA is an important measure of the group. We look at it for cash generation capability, as well as a key metric that we monitor closely. Our target is always an annual EBITDA of $1 billion, which supports healthy cash generation. So excluding capital recycling gains, all 3 core segments recorded higher EBITDA. So the strong EBITDA was again underpinned by our property development segment, supported by income visibility from our successfully launched projects. You can see property development EBITDA, they doubled year-on-year. And other than the projects that we mentioned in revenue earlier, JV projects also contributed to this EBITDA. This included The Orie, CanningHill Piers and Kassia. For hotel operations, EBITDA increased by a strong 27% year-on-year. They are supported by higher revenues as well as disciplined cost management. GOP margin remained resilient at 30%, broadly in line with first half of '25. In key markets of Singapore and London, GOP margins remained particularly strong at 35% and 42%, respectively. As mentioned earlier, New Zealand had good revenue improvement, and this flow along to GOP margins. Australasia GOP margins also expanded from 33% to 35%. So the combination of revenue growth, resilient margins and disciplined cost management drove this hotel operations' EBITDA. For IP, which is investment properties, EBITDA was slightly lower in first half '26 due to lower capital recycling gains. Just a refresher, for first half of '26, we have recycled Quayside Isle and several strata titles -- strata units in Fortune Centre vis-a-vis '25, where we had a huge recycling gain of City Industrial Building. So importantly, excluding capital recycling gains, the EBITDA contribution was still broadly comparable year-on-year. This once again reflects the underlying performance of our commercial properties as well as our living sector. I'll move on to PBT. So it improved 189%. So, one interesting fact point is that in property development, takes up 57% of revenue, but 84% of PBT. So the PBT variations are largely -- explanations are largely similar to EBITDA, but it's impacted, as we know, by financing and depre. So, net finance costs decreased significantly by 47% to $145 million. This is supported by an 11% reduction in net interest expense as well as a favorable swing in exchange. The group recorded an exchange gain of $38 million in first half '26 versus an exchange loss of $63 million in first half of '25. I want to highlight that these exchange differences are unrealized translation differences from intercompany loans. They do not represent underlying operating cash flows. For property development, while the segment delivered a stellar performance, I also want to reiterate that the profits from this segment are inherently lumpy. As we all know, it's dependent whether there's key project milestones, whether there's an EC, there's a handover for overseas, as well as the progress of project completions. Hotel operations, a significant turnaround. They reversed from a loss of SGD 84 million in first half of '25 to a profit of SGD 42 million in first half of '26. This improvement was largely driven by 2 things. One is the newly acquired HIK, and two is a favorable exchange position from exchange loss in '25 to a gain in '26. This is largely from intercompany loans. So for investment properties, PBT decreased also due to lower capital recycling gains. I sound like a broken record, but it's worth reiterating that CDL accounts for our investment properties at costs. So, what you see in these financial statements has no fair value gains. Instead, they record a depreciation of about $68 million. Just moving on to capital management. So, we continue to maintain very strong and robust financial fundamentals with a well-balanced debt maturity profile. Gearing stood at 75%, is an increase of 4% over 31 December, '25, largely attributable to the acquisition of the 2 GLS that we have acquired this year as well as $144 million of CapEx on our investment properties, largely for Newport and Union Square. So looking ahead, we expect healthy cash flows from 4 projects that will achieve TOP this year. Lumina Grand achieved TOP in April, Norwood in August, and we're expecting The Myst as well as CanningHill Piers to TOP in 2026, and these project completions will support the cash generation. Liquidity position has continued to be very strong, $2 billion of cash, $4.9 billion of committed undrawn credit facilities. So, we have definitely sufficient financial headroom. For all the other metrics, I think interest -- average interest has dropped and then it's now at 3.4%. I know one of the favorite question is what -- where do we see where we end the year at? We have articulated previously, we hope to end the year no higher than 3.5%. So to all the bankers in the room, please help us achieve this objective. So as shown, the last one is just basically on hedging. So, we don't do any speculative. So, you can see our loans match with the assets that we have, and we have an overall natural hedge about 76% across the key markets. So, financial position in a nutshell, we reiterate we have a strong liquidity position, diversified financing sources and we definitely exercise prudent financial risk management. So with this, I hand over back to Belinda.
Belinda Lee: Thank you, Yim Ying and Sherman. We would now like to move to the second part of today's briefing, which is the Q&A. So, please feel free to ask your questions. My colleagues are standing around the room with microphones. And if you have any questions, please raise your hands, and they will come to you. The only thing we request is if you could let us know who you are, introduce yourself and the organization that you represent. [Operator Instructions] So may I have -- I see pens pointing here. So, maybe let me just take the first question. Tabitha, maybe you kick us off.
Tabitha Foo: Tabitha from DBS here. Congrats on the strong results. My first question is on divestments. So, your progress appears to have been slower than expected this year. Can we expect a more accelerated pace of capital recycling over the next 6 to 12 months? And which assets are in the pipeline? Any of the U.K. legacy assets that you identified previously?
Eik Tse Kwek: Yes. As I mentioned earlier, we see it as divestments will be weighted more in the second half of this year. But having said that, right, I mean, some of them, especially some are fairly significant divestments. I mean, we are in very advanced stages, but they may not close by this year, so some may trickle into next year. But yes, I mean, as Yim Ming mentioned earlier, I mean, we did record Quayside Isle as a divestment in our accounting. But I don't count that as this year because I already announced it as part of our divestment amount for last year when I presented to all of you our full-year results because I announced it in December, but it only completed in January. So therefore, to me, this year, we haven't done any divestments and other than some -- a few strata title units at Fortune Centre. But yes -- so that really emphasizes the urgency for us to kick it up for the back half of this year. And plus with regards to going forward, I mean, because I think you mentioned, is it 12 to 18 months or something? But anyway, all that we will share more when we release our strategic review outcome end of next month. That will cover our whole capital recycling efforts for the next few years. And yes, we don't generally have a practice of, I think, disclosing what the assets are. But suffice to say, you're right on the dot. I mean, the legacy U.K. land bank that we had showed earlier, I think the last time when we announced results, we said we had this $800 million of U.K. legacy assets. Those are certainly on the cards, too.
Tabitha Foo: And my second question is on Singapore residential. So, you've been very active in land banking, but with the recent GLS bids at such elevated pricing, will you still continue to look at GLS or en bloc is something that you will consider given the latest measures? And also on EC projects, you have been working very well for the group and you have 2 upcoming projects not subject to the new rules. But has your stance on participating in the EC market changed?
Eik Tse Kwek: Yes. We -- look, prices have always been high for GLS sites, right? I mean, any good site that's well located, has strong connectivity will always be hotly contested. So, we will continue to participate. We just have to do so in a disciplined manner. And let's see where we get to. As I mentioned in previous analyst briefings, I think we also need to watch what our pipeline looks like. I mean, we don't want to go back to a point in time like in early 2018 when I had 4,000 units in the pipeline and then suddenly some cooling measure comes out and then our share price was really wrecked. So, I think we have an optimal pipeline land bank number in mind. So, I think we'll always try to ensure that we replenish on a timely basis because as all of you know, right, I mean, I can reduce our gearing and also save -- conserve more cash by not investing, but it hurts you down the road when you don't have revenue and profits coming in. So, we'll continue replenishing. We continue to look at good land sites. We are privileged to have won 2 this year. We participated in quite a few. And obviously, the one recent one was Bayshore, where this large consortium that we were leading, I mean, we came in second. So, that was a bit of a pity. But we'll continue to look at future GLS. And likewise, we will look at en blocs as well. I previously mentioned to the audience that en blocs are usually not our preferred method because it's a much more longer cumbersome process, right, to get through the en bloc and there may be more studies that you may need to do, whether it's traffic impact assessments and stuff like that. But it's still something we'll keep in mind. I mean, there are a lot of very, very nice, well-located legacy or agent assets. So if the opportunity comes up and the pricing is within a range that we deem acceptable, we would certainly be keen to go for it, too. And as for EC sites, yes, the new EC sites will certainly come under a different set of rules and that will moderate things. But having said that, I mean, that will be evident in the bid prices for the land. So, we will also continue to participate, but we will have to obviously moderate what we bid for it.
Belinda Lee: Okay. Can I move to the next question, please? Okay. Maybe let me take Xuan.
Xuan Tan: This is Xuan here from Goldman. First question is on the Newport office in Union Square. Can you share what is the CapEx and yield on cost? And beyond this project, are you actually prepared to undertake more redevelopment? Or will you only embark on those when these 2 are completed?
Eik Tse Kwek: Yes, Xuan. I'll let Yim Ming talk more on the costs. But yes, we are willing to undertake more redevelopments as and when. I think it's appropriate and obviously accretive for us. As mentioned at the full-year briefing to all of you, I mean, we have a few other assets that could potentially go under different schemes. I mean, Newport is under the CBD incentive scheme, where we had a 25% uplift. Union Square is under the strategic development incentive scheme. So, that was a 67% GFA uplift. So we have, for instance, 2 other potential projects that fit under each scheme. So, there's the City House, which can still go under the CBD incentive scheme. Then there's also -- you remember, we en bloc-ed Delfi. I mean, we own a large part of it, but we bought out the remaining minority shareholders. And so now with full control of Delfi. And obviously, CDL Hospitality Trusts has Orchard Hotel and Claymore Connect, the mall next door. So, that is a potential project that could go under the strategic development incentive scheme as well. So yes, but as mentioned at the full-year briefing, I don't want too many redevelopments going on at the same time because every time you do it, you lose the entire rental income and it's several years of heavy CapEx as you build out these big integrated mixed-use developments. Yim Ming?
Yim Ming Yiong: Never really divulge it, but okay. So the PDC for Newport as well as Union Square, I'm talking about the commercial elements. They are in the range of about $1.1 billion and $0.9 billion thereabouts. So, this is based on market prices of the land. So as we all know, Newport was our previous Fuji Xerox. So this $1.1 billion actually reflected the market value of the land at the point of transfer. So clearly, the embedded value is what we have not yet unleashed, which we will, should we do any other capital movements, yes. So out of which, I think -- I mean, I've mentioned earlier on this time around, in fact, for the last 1, 2 years, we have spent significant CapEx on these 2 properties. So right now, I think the remaining commitments for these 2 properties is also fairly minimal. It's probably in the range of sub-400. You guess yourself.
Belinda Lee: Okay. Can we move on to the next questions, please? Any hands? Or everybody is very happy with the results. We can go for lunch now. Okay. Maybe I move to [ Dexter ]. Is it Dexter? Yes.
Unknown Analyst: Can I ask quickly on the -- so obviously, the property development have done very well. You have mentioned obviously about land cost. But what's your sense of the Singapore property market now? Do you think this is the best that we have? Or do you think there's still like -- from what you're planning, is there a long way still to run in terms of prices, in terms of the health of the market right now? Or you're a little bit more conservative on? That's my first part. I'll ask the next one.
Eik Tse Kwek: Yes, I think the market has entered into a more stabilized phase. As mentioned earlier, I mean, year-to-date price increase for private residential according to URA Index is 1.4%. I think we'll probably end the full year maybe somewhere between 2% to 3% price growth. And I think that's very normal, right? I mean, you keep track with inflation costs and obviously, our development costs have risen as well over the years. So, I think -- and the units transacted, I mean, whether we hit 8,000 or 10,000 end of this year. I think it's been a very -- it's a very -- there are indications of a very stable market. So far, I'm quite pleased with it. And this is in line, I think, with where the government would like to see the residential market be as well. So yes, we continue to be optimistic about it. I mean, this is our bread and butter. CDL, we do property development very well. And obviously, Singapore is our strongest market because it's our home ground. So, we will continue, I think, to execute in this market and continue to be on the lookout for the right opportunities and the right GLS land tenders to participate in.
Unknown Analyst: And just 2 more follow-ups. One is on your gearing. You have already made it a priority, but it's gone up again, albeit for the GLS. Is there actually a concrete plan to reduce that target? What the plan is? And on terms of the -- in terms of your strategic review, obviously, you wanted to do in June -- announced it in June. What's the reason for delay? And is it safe to assume that the whole Board has unanimously approved it?
Eik Tse Kwek: Yes. So, I'll address the gearing one first. Gearing has ticked up, unfortunately, because obviously, we've bought these 2 GLS sites, which we are very excited about. We think they are good purchases, but it does add to our gearing. So it's not at a level that we're comfortable with. I mean, 75% is high. But the good thing is that you will hear -- and again, sorry today that we will be short on details, but you will hear at our strategic review, unveiling of our strategic review outcomes end of next month, how we have a concrete plan to bring it down, a very concrete plan backed by assets and numbers to bring it down to a level that I would think everybody should be very happy with, but we will talk more about that end of next month. And your other question, strategic review, yes, Board has approved it unanimously yesterday. So really grateful to the Board for standing behind what has been many, many months of work, right? I mean, actually close to a year since we started this. But we still need to tweak certain final parts. I mean, because as management, right, we have to ensure that everything we put out there, we can absolutely deliver. So, there's still some final tweaking we need to do. Obviously, I was joking earlier about the pretty infographics and all that. But there is a little bit more work to be done to get the whole plan concrete and in shape. So, that's why we needed a bit more time as well. And also, obviously, we're also very busy running the business. So, we thought let's put it at the end of September, so they will give us time without having to rush and put out something that may be slightly unfinished.
Belinda Lee: Okay. Maybe since it is there, why don't I just take [ Jovi ], then I'll come to you, Kiang, then I'll come that way. So Jovi, maybe let me take your first.
Unknown Analyst: I'm Jovi from DAH Singapore. Just 2. New Grade A office supply is tight in the coming years. Can I just confirm how leasing is progressing for the office space at Newport Plaza and Union Square? Are you able to share any figures? And I think building on Dexter's question, do you see any new launch prices hitting $4,000 psf? Orchard Boulevard tender just opened this morning, for example.
Eik Tse Kwek: Mr. Sheng, why don't you take both questions? But having said that -- I know. I mean, I may look like a bad guy for throwing the tough questions at him. Okay. I'll take the first one, Jovi. I mean, we don't tend to share too much about our pre-leasing efforts. And obviously, pre-leasing really ramps up strongly the closer you get to completion. But having said that, we did share at our -- when we unveiled our full-year results of 2025 that obviously, we are at a 52% pre-lease for Union Square because that was a one single large tenant. But suffice to say, both of them actually, it's been very encouraging. I mean, tenants have been interested, a mixture of large tenants and smaller tenants. But yes, sorry, we don't typically share pre-leasing commitments until we get closer to when the buildings about the TOP. As for whether resi will hit $4,000, I will let Mr. Sheng answer that.
Eik Sheng Kwek: Actually, $4,000 benchmark is not high actually. Some of the Orchard Boulevard property is already $5,000 plus. So, I think depending on the location and the type of property, the quality, I would expect the new launches to be on the high [ $3,000 ], those in very good locations, right, the Orchard Boulevard you mentioned. Yes. But you may remember, Jovi, that I mean, the record was set by the mark, right, at Paterson, and that was $6,800 plus per square foot, right? And obviously, there are other developments that have hit $5,000 plus. But whether you're asking whether $4,000 becomes the norm, I mean, that's not for me the case. But there will be some luxury high-end projects that will hit or cross $4,000.
Belinda Lee: Okay. I'm going to just move back to the front, Yew Kiang first and then after that, pass to [ Rachel ].
Yew Kiang Wong: Yew Kiang from CLSA. I'm glad to see the higher interim dividend despite the absence of any significant divestment gains. And then I think Sherman alluded that bulk of it will be coming in second half. But if the divestment doesn't come through, is there a risk that your full-year dividend for this year is going to be lower than the previous year?
Eik Tse Kwek: So, Yew Kiang as mentioned, our dividend policy is now based on a dividend payout ratio, right, minimum of 35% of PATMI, right? So it's whatever PATMI is. So yes, there is a risk. I mean, if we don't hit the same kind of $600 over million like last year, there's a risk the absolute amount will come down, but not the ratio. Last year, we paid out 40%. So, I mean, this year, we could pay out minimum 35%, maybe more. So the ratio will be -- has a floor, but the amount could come down if we don't hit the same thing. So, I mean, we'll just pay out whatever our PATMI is with or without capital recycling gains in there.
Belinda Lee: Okay, Rachel?
Unknown Analyst: Good to see the share price drop. Actually, just following up on Yew Kiang's question. In second half, do you have any more residential properties that you can recognize to support your second half numbers?
Yim Ming Yiong: We do, but it's definitely not as strong as first half. First half, we had Lumina Grand, which is the EC TOP. And I can tell you in first half, Norwood as well as Myst had a very high percentage of completion in excess of 90%. So, what we have is going to be our rock-solid Newport, which is more than 80% sold. Currently in June, it is about 50-odd percent completed. So, we'll see the project -- progress of completion by year-end. But relatively, the first half, yes, it will be smaller.
Unknown Analyst: Then my next question is really on hotels. So, I think some of your peers are thinking of paring down their stake. I know it's a bit different for your City Dev hotel portfolio, but what are your thoughts about hotel?
Eik Tse Kwek: We are planning to share more at the strategic review outcome unveiling end of next month. But maybe I'll turn it over to Eik Sheng, if you wish to talk about our thoughts about our hotel portfolio?
Eik Sheng Kwek: I mean, for the first half, I think, of course, t's still quite volatile, right? I mean -- and because we have such a diversified portfolio, net-net, what we did see is that we have still performed better than 2025. And even though there were some hotels in regions which were impacted, we saw other regions take up the slide as well. So, I think that's the benefit of having a very diversified portfolio. That kind of principle, I think we will continue to maintain. But I think we will have more to share at a strategy review. I think we can't share too much details at this point.
Belinda Lee: Just trying to tease it out.
Eik Tse Kwek: Thank you, Rachel. Well, good to see you again. It's been a while.
Belinda Lee: Let me just take some questions on the webcast, which is similar to in line with what Rachel just mentioned. So most of the question here is from [ Kotin ] of [ Falcon ]. Most of your competitors are shifting to an asset-light with higher certainty of profitability and cash flows. So under this strategic review, what uniquely distinguishes CDL to stride in the Singapore market? And then the -- so that's the first part. And then the second part is capital recycling. When others are disposing, what kind of metrics or what kind of thoughts you have when you want to maybe capital recycle? What are the priorities that you will put beyond value and time?
Eik Tse Kwek: Yes. So for understandable reasons, I will skip the second question because I think we will address that more when we have more concrete details to share. In terms of first question -- and I think I mentioned this to many of you before, I mean, we will never be a fully asset-light company. That's not in our DNA. I think we -- asset ownership is a big part of CDL's DNA, including doing heavy property development. But as I've mentioned before, I mean, and now we're up to $36 billion of assets, right? I mean we do need a portion of our balance sheet to be a bit more asset-light, so we don't get too top heavy. So yes, I mean, the way to do it is to have a disciplined and systematic capital recycling program that goes on year in, year out. As we are buying new stuff, we should be also divesting some of our either non-core or matured or underperforming assets as we go along. And this cycle should continue alongside with our investments, our continued investments for growth.
Belinda Lee: On the topic of capital recycling, I also have another question from Vijay of RHB, which is joining us on webcast. In some way, it's related. So, I guess you can use her response. But the first part is the -- can we have an update on fund management segment? The FUM growth has been slow and short of the $5 billion target? And what are your plans for the FUM growth? That's the first one. But the second one is a little bit more operational. Can we have an update on the living sector portfolio? The PBSA in U.K. segment seems to have softened. So, what's your view on the portfolio performance for the living sector?
Eik Tse Kwek: Yes. Again, I'm sorry to be such a cop-out, but we will address more details at the -- when we have the session on the strategic review. But fund management is going to play a much bigger leg, a much bigger role for us going forward. Currently, I mean, roughly speaking, our AUM in the fund management side is about SGD 4 billion right now, primarily comprised of the 2 REITs that are CDLHT, as well as CDL Hospitality Trusts as well as IREIT, where we are a co-manager. So primarily comprised of these 2 REITs as well as a few small private gigs. But having said that, I mean, we do have plans to substantially grow this. And obviously, we're going to have to put a much stronger setup in place to ensure we can get there. But yes, we will unveil more details on that next month. What was the other...
Belinda Lee: Living sector portfolio, in particular, PBSA U.K.
Eik Tse Kwek: Yes. I mean, of all of our living sector, which currently is mainly in the U.K., where we do the multi-family, which is PRS as we call it. So the U.K. PRS, Japan PRS and U.K. PBSA. I mean, Japan PRS has been the strongest. Our 40 assets, they are really doing exceptionally well. We're seeing strong rental growth. Occupancies are almost full. U.K. PRS has been improving. It was off to a slow start. We were a bit disappointed that it's been improving. Unfortunately, U.K. PBSA has been a bit of a drag for us. I would say, currently, our yield on cost for the 6 PBSA we own is about 4%. It's not great. I mean, we wish it was higher. U.K., the entire PBSA market has been under some pressure and some structural challenges. And I think I've mentioned earlier to all of you before as well. I mean, with all this conflict going on or trade tensions between China and the U.S., we thought more students from China will go to U.K., but that didn't really happen also. So, I mean, the U.K. PBSA sector is very dependent on foreign students, especially to drive performance. So yes, that's been disappointing, but we'll continue to monitor. I mean, our exposure is not huge. I mean, yes, I mean, 6 assets, not small, but it's not like a large portfolio of like 20, 30 properties either. So it's manageable for now. But again, we are reassessing all this with a view to taking a decision on whether to expand or shrink or completely divest the portfolio.
Belinda Lee: Okay. Good. I'm going to move forward. Okay. Let's go with Wilson first. Wilson then Brandon.
Wilson W. Ng: Wilson from Jefferies. Just a question on Singapore land banking. So, I think, Sherman, you mentioned how you're looking to replenish but not really overdo it. Is there like a comfortable level of Singapore land bank you are hoping to sustain? And I guess related to that also, what would be the implied kind of steady-state churn rate or number of launches you'd be seeing out of the land bank per year? And just lastly, on a similar vein, within your Singapore land bank, any preferences for specific regions over others?
Eik Tse Kwek: Wilson, very sorry to give you a cop-out answer again, and this is not related to strategic review, but very good questions, but we don't typically want to share too much here because, again, it's information that could be used against us, right? Once people know what's our optimal land banking amount, what regions we prefer, what's sort of our churn rate or target churn rate every year. I don't think this is good for us to share this publicly. So, apologies for that.
Belinda Lee: Okay. Maybe we'll move down to Brandon.
Brandon Lee: I wouldn't ask anything to do with the SR. So, just on the results for first half, we saw that the hotel numbers were quite strong. I think earlier, it was mentioned that there were some cost savings. Could you let us know what these cost savings are? And also if we were to take away the ForEx gain from SGD, what would be the core EBITDA and PBT growth of the hotel side? Because when I look at the GOP margin, it seems kind of flat year-on-year, right?
Yim Ming Yiong: Your question always must be very difficult, right? So the exchange that the hotel segment has -- okay, it's a little bit convoluted because it spans over different segments. So, while we always associate M&C as hotel, they are not only in hotel. They do have investment properties as well as others. But looking at where we are for hotel operations -- so the PBT reversed from $84 million to $42 million. So the $42 million included exchange in the range of about $30 over million. So the underlying performance is still positive. But having said that, I also want to reiterate that for the first half of the year, usually, that's not the strongest part for hotel. We all know that the winter months, the Europe hotels as well as the U.S. hotels don't do as well. So it's not exactly linear. The second half would look a lot better.
Brandon Lee: Okay. And my second question is with regards to the investment sentiments for U.K. and Japan. So, obviously, the interest rate environment hasn't been that favorable. So, could you maybe just share some color on what buyers are thinking right now?
Yim Ming Yiong: Sorry, Brandon, buyers regarding, relating to?
Brandon Lee: Relating to your potential sale of the U.K. development sites and Japan. I mean, you don't have to tell me whether you can sell. It's more like I just want to understand how is the market doing.
Yim Ming Yiong: So if you really look at -- I mean, clearly, we all know that our clear divestment, we have highlighted the U.K. legacy. And we have done in U.K. -- we're heavy in U.K. Our total assets in U.K. is about 13% and of which, of course, I think we have obviously 3 chunks, right? I mean 4 chunks, hotels, which are doing very well; living sector, which is very resilient. U.K. commercial, clearly, I think that was something that we tried to put in a REIT and that has been stalled for a while. And of course, the last one being the development portfolio. So, development portfolio is the part that we are looking, obviously, to actively -- this legacy, we have indicated. No strings attached, we're trying to do that. The buyers are largely -- we all know, is going to be -- a large pool of is likely to be Middle Eastern. And clearly, in the current climate, of course, I think there's a few risks, right? I mean, firstly, in Middle Eastern, we all know that the monies -- of them being able to take money is not exactly the easiest. That's number one. I think forever, there's this interest rate. They are saying that, obviously, the interest rate hike invisible, you could possibly squeeze better earnings. I think distressed sales is quite evident today, but we are not in a state of a distressed sale. I mean, we still believe that we have very good assets, especially Pavilion. But yes, the natural buyer pool is naturally more of the Middle Eastern.
Eik Tse Kwek: Yes. Just to add to that, I mean, yes, we will not take whatever price is on the table just so we can meet our divestment targets. I think we don't want to leave too much money on the table. And from time to time, we do get offers for assets within this legacy land bank. But if it doesn't hit our required targets, we won't sell it. While I am urgent to want to -- under some urgency to want to divest it, but again, I mean, I can't do that to CDL, right, by leaving too much money on the table. And some of them have good potential. It's just that it's -- it will take too long for us to go and try to unlock or recognize the potential. Regarding Yim Ming, what she mentioned, she's not wrong. I would say -- I mean, actually, many of these development sites, a natural buyer also would be a U.K. developer. And we have been in talks as well. But again, she's not wrong in saying that it's Middle Eastern money because if you look at the site we sold last year, Ransomes Wharf, that was the London Square, a U.K. developer, which is owned by Aedas anyway, which is -- sorry, owned by Aldar, which is a Abu Dhabi developer. So yes, maybe much of the money comes from the Middle East, but that's not the only pool. I mean, we have been in talks with U.K. developers, too. So, I think that's also a very natural buyer for some of the sites, especially if they already have there a strong development team and network within the U.K.
Belinda Lee: Okay. I'm mindful of time. So, I'm just going to take one or last 2 questions. So, I'm just going to pass to Mervin first.
Mervin Song: Mervin from JPMorgan. Maybe we can move to Slide 21. I have phrased it in the past, but we have a lot of U.K. debt. I noted that you issued an MTN program where you can issue perps. Rather than waiting for any U.K. land bank disposal, should we not issue some cheaper perps to pay off this more expensive U.K. debt or take on more thing of that considering your yield on cost from PRS is 4%, which probably doesn't -- PBSA, sorry, that doesn't cover perhaps the U.K. borrowing cost? What are we doing in terms of the capital management.
Yim Ming Yiong: So you're right. I mean, by debt, we do a little bit of cross-currency swaps where we borrow in SGD and then we do a cross-currency swap to U.K. to service our debt. We service our U.K. debt of which -- if you look at U.K. debt composition, the fixed ratio is possibly lower. We kind of missed the window back in 2018, 2019. There was never a perfect window to do that, except at the expensive price. So having said that -- so we have been doing what you suggested. But to open that a little bit more, that still leaves you with a currency risk. That's not exactly what we were trying to usually posture. So, while GBP has been a lot more stable relative to USD comparing the last 2 years, it still ends up with some exchange exposure, which we possibly might not really want to do that. So typically, every time when it comes close to the refinancing, we do look at every debt closely. We will look at all the instruments, whether it's cheaper to refinance using the natural loan -- natural currency whether it's cheaper for us to do a cross-currency swap or basically just leave the exchange open and borrow in SGD. A simple -- I mean, very simply, I think everybody would think that I can borrow it sub-3%, issue bonds sub-3%, issue Singapore perps up 4%. And in U.K., that is possibly almost 5%. Why don't you just do that with an arbitrage? But very frankly, the exchange movements, we have done that in the past, it's very easy to tip over with a 1%, 2% savings. So the savings in real is possibly in the range of about 1% to 1.2%. So it's still a risk movement if you ask me.
Mervin Song: I'm asking because CDLHT has achieved 3% depreciation from issuing perps to reduce borrowing costs. Anyway, we can discuss this offline.
Yim Ming Yiong: Yes. So, perps pricing is typically about 1% higher than traditional debt. So, we have done bonds, very frankly, at low 2s -- mid-2s, sorry. So it is still a little bit pricey for us. Yes, it does make the metrics look better. It does make your U.K. numbers look a bit better if I were to attribute a lower financing cost. But very frankly, if we want to do that, I will just keep issuing a lot of SGD bonds and basically have a more open exposure of currency risk. And since we are very, very clear that U.K. legacy is what we want to divest, I think we can still give it some time for another 1, 2 years, yes.
Mervin Song: And final question for me. I presume the hotel is still considered core part of the business, but maybe I don't know if Sheng want to talk about where is the greatest opportunity within the hotel business?
Eik Sheng Kwek: I think we're not giving anything away, but we've always done pretty well in the Gateway City hotels, where I think we see both strong demand and, of course, the capital appreciation in terms of the value of the assets that we have. So, I think that's probably the winning formula that we've had through the years, especially when we do divest them, right? I mean, we've seen in the past with Millennium Seoul Hilton, recently with the Bespoke Osaka as well. So, I think that's likely. I mean, I don't think we would change that formula for now, but I think there's only so much we can share at this point. Yes.
Eik Tse Kwek: Yes. So just to add on to that, Mervin, I mean, yes, hospitality will still remain a key part of our business. Portfolio may get streamlined, but it is -- continues to be a key leg of our business and does contribute strongly when it's managed well.
Belinda Lee: Okay. I'm mindful that we are just heading into lunch time. So if there are any more burning questions, if there are -- there is burning questions. One more. Okay. It has to be burning Xuan. I'll give you that last question then.
Xuan Tan: Xuan here from Goldman. Just a quick question on the share performance plan. Can you share what is the key indicator that's tied to it? And is there any max limit of what can be issued each year?
Eik Tse Kwek: I think it's not a maximum limit that I recall. But in the past, when we had it at the AGM, we also flagged that the dilution is very, very minimal, right? I mean, we are issuing out of the treasury shares that we have bought back. And as to the KPIs, we have not released what they are exactly to the public. But I think it's safe to say that they are tied to the long-term goals of the company. And going forward, they should be tied to the KPIs of the strategic review as well.
Yim Ming Yiong: And any way to close off, I think for the shares, right, don't worry, we're not paid that much. The dilution impact is so immaterial that it is not -- definitely not completed. Yes.
Belinda Lee: Okay. All right. If that is the case, I just want to ask if the panel has any closing remarks or..
Leng Beng Kwek: I look at the big picture. It is not quite often that we look at everything in single isolation. What we want is to be the best of its kind. And I will not hesitate to do that. Of course, some of the strategy that I'm going to have, I cannot tell you now because it is impossible to share some of the foresight. So, I wish you well. Thank you very much.
Belinda Lee: Thank you, Chairman. So, [Foreign Language]. I think that's the thing, right? So stay tuned, stay with us. At the end of September, we'll also be sharing more. So ladies and gentlemen, we have really come to the end of the briefing. And on behalf of the CDL management and my fellow colleagues in the room, so thank you so much for attending. Thank you to all the webcast audience as well for your support. For those at the hotel, there are refreshments outside. I hope it suits your lunch time. So, please continue to stay with us and catch up with us over coffee outside. Thank you so much.