OCH ZIFF CAPITAL MANAGEMENT GROUP LLC Reports Operating Results (10-K)

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Feb 27, 2012
OCH ZIFF CAPITAL MANAGEMENT GROUP LLC (OZM, Financial) filed Annual Report for the period ended 2011-12-31.

Och-ziff Captl has a market cap of $3.66 billion; its shares were traded at around $9.81 with a P/E ratio of 20.4 and P/S ratio of 5.9. The dividend yield of Och-ziff Captl stocks is 1.6%.

Highlight of Business Operations:

Our revenues are influenced by the combination of the amount of assets under management and the investment performance of our funds. Asset flows, whether inflows or outflows, can be highly variable from month-to-month and quarter-to-quarter. Furthermore, our funds investment performance, which affects the amount of assets under management, can be volatile due to, among other things, general market and economic conditions. Accordingly, our revenues, results of operations and cash flows are all highly variable. This variability is exacerbated during the fourth quarter of each fiscal year, primarily due to the fact that a substantial portion of our revenues historically has been and we expect will continue to be derived from incentive income from our funds. Such incentive income is contingent on the investment performance of the funds as of the relevant measurement period, which generally is as of the end of each calendar year; however, as of December 31, 2011 with respect to 18.0% of assets under management, the measurement period can be three years or longer depending on how the assets are invested. A portion of these assets under management earn incentive income at the end of a three-year measurement period, which may occur on dates other than December 31. Moreover, in a typical year, we determine the amount of our annual discretionary cash bonus during the fourth quarter as we determine our incentive income for that year. Because this bonus is variable and discretionary, it can exacerbate the volatility of our results. We may also experience fluctuations in our results from quarter to quarter due to a number of other factors, including changes in management fees resulting from changes in the values of our funds investments, other changes in the amount of assets under management, changes in our operating expenses, unexpected business developments and initiatives and, as discussed above, general economic and market conditions. Such variability and unpredictability may lead to volatility or declines in the price of our Class A Shares and cause our results for a particular period not to be indicative of our performance in a future period or particularly meaningful as a basis of comparison against results for a prior period.

We will be considered to have been terminated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes if there is a sale or exchange of 50% or more of the total interests in our capital and profits within a 12-month period. A termination would, among other things, result in the closing of our taxable year for all holders and could result in a deferral of depreciation deductions allowable in computing our taxable income.

a $17.3 million increase in compensation and benefits primarily due to the following: (i) a $12.3 million increase in cash bonus expense, which was primarily driven by higher incentive income earned in 2010 compared to 2009; (ii) a $6.3 million increase in equity-based compensation expense largely driven by 2009 year-end equity grants; and (iii) a $4.5 million increase in allocations to Och-Ziff Operating Group D Units, which are non-equity profit interests held by certain partners, driven by higher profitability of the Och-Ziff Operating Group and an increased number of Och-Ziff Operating Group D Units outstanding in 2010 compared to 2009. Partially offsetting these increases was a $7.3 million decrease in amortization of deferred cash compensation expenses, as deferred bonus compensation is now generally in the form of RSUs rather than deferred cash compensation. The remaining variance was driven by an increase in salaries and benefits primarily due to the increase in our worldwide headcount from 378 at December 31, 2009 to 405 at December 31, 2010.

The ratio of salaries and benefits to management fees was 15% in 2011 compared to 18% in 2010. The decline was primarily driven by the year-over-year increase in management fees resulting from higher assets under management. The ratio of bonus expense to total Economic Income revenues was 22% in 2011 compared to 17% in 2010. The increase was principally attributable to the year-over-year decrease in incentive income.

The following tables present the reconciliations of Economic Income revenues and its components to the respective GAAP measure for the periods presented in this managements discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations and in Item 6. Selected Financial Data of this annual report:

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