Noah Holdings' outlook upgraded to stable by S&P Global Ratings; investment grade "BBB-" rating affirmed

Standard and Poor's Global Ratings ("S&P") has revised its outlook on Noah Holdings ("Noah" or "the Company") to stable from negative, and affirmed the "BBB-" long-term and "A-3" short-term issuer credit ratings on the Company.

"The stable outlook reflects our expectation that Noah's revenue stream and AUM flow has stabilized and will be on a growth trajectory at least over the next 24 months. The stable outlook also reflects reduced litigation risk associated with Camsing incident," stated S&P in its research update. "The Camsing incident is not as strong a credit factor now as when we revised the outlook to negative."

As a leading and pioneer wealth management service provider in China offering comprehensive one-stop advisory services on global investment and asset allocation primarily for high net worth investors, Noah reported stabilized AUM and revenue stream since Camsing. In the first quarter of 2021, the Company's net revenues reached 1.2 billion yuan, the highest single quarter in its history, a 64.1% increase year-on-year, consists of the strong growth in all revenue streams including one-time commissions, recurring service fees and performance-based income. As a result, non-GAAP net income was 461.9 million yuan, also a historical high.

S&P mentioned that the expansion in Noah's ultra-high-net-worth client base indicated investor confidence in the Company. Noah's active clients number, including mutual funds, grew 65.4% year-on-year to record a historical high of almost 28,000 in the first quarter of 2021.

"Proactive investments and customized product distribution with focus on high-net-worth clients are better positioning Noah to compete with online channels as the sector becomes more saturated," commented S&P. The Company announced its strategic equity investment in US-based iCapital Network on July 28, 2021, the leading global financial technology platform driving access to and efficiency in alternative investment for the asset and wealth management industries. Through the collaboration, Noah expects to offer more diversified high-quality global private equity and hedge fund products for its clients, and expand the international distribution channel for Gopher Asset Management, the asset management arm of the Company.

"Noah should be able to navigate its growth with an appropriate strategy and risk management system, and the company meets our assessment of management and governance at fair. The Company has limited financial liabilities and we do not anticipate it will incur any over the next 12 months. We continue to assess the company's financial risk as minimal," concluded S&P.