Stockholders' Equity

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Stockholders Equity Note [Abstract]

Stockholders' equity

Note 15 - Stockholders’ equity:

Long-term incentive compensation plan - We have a long-term incentive plan that provides for the award of stock to our board of directors, up to a maximum of 200,000 shares. We awarded 28,250 shares in 2019, 33,250 shares in 2020 and 13,750 shares in 2021 under this plan. At December 31, 2021, 66,150 shares were available for future grants.

Long-term incentive compensation plans of subsidiaries and affiliates - CompX and Kronos each have a share based incentive compensation plan pursuant to which an aggregate of up to 200,000 shares of their common stock can be awarded to members of their board of directors. At December 31, 2021, Kronos had 120,200 shares available for award and CompX had 136,450 shares available for award.

Dividends - We did not pay dividends during 2019. During 2020 and 2021, our board of directors approved and we paid quarterly dividends of $.04 and $.06, respectively, per share to stockholders aggregating $7.8 million and $11.7 million, respectively. The declaration and payment of future dividends, and the amount thereof, is discretionary and is dependent upon our financial condition, cash requirements, contractual obligations and restrictions and other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors. The amount and timing of past dividends is not necessarily indicative of the amount or timing of any future dividends which might be paid. There are currently no contractual restrictions on the amount of dividends which we may pay.

Accumulated other comprehensive loss - Changes in accumulated other comprehensive loss attributable to NL stockholders, including amounts resulting from our investment in Kronos Worldwide (see Note 6), are presented in the table below.

	Years ended December 31,
	2019		2020		2021
	(In thousands)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of tax:
Currency translation:
Balance at beginning of period	$	(172,434)	$	(172,843)	$	(169,575)
Other comprehensive income (loss)		(409)		3,268		(1,660)
Balance at end of period	$	(172,843)	$	(169,575)	$	(171,235)
Defined benefit pension plans:
Balance at beginning of period	$	(75,286)	$	(78,257)	$	(80,704)
Other comprehensive income (loss):
Amortization of prior service cost and net losses included in net   periodic pension cost		3,539		4,330		4,813
Net actuarial gain (loss) arising during the year		(6,510)		(6,777)		7,423
Balance at end of period	$	(78,257)	$	(80,704)	$	(68,468)
OPEB plans:
Balance at beginning of period	$	(550)	$	(590)	$	(910)
Other comprehensive loss - amortization of net   gains included in net periodic OPEB cost		(40)		(320)		(143)
Balance at end of period	$	(590)	$	(910)	$	(1,053)
Total accumulated other comprehensive loss:
Balance at beginning of period	$	(248,270)	$	(251,690)	$	(251,189)
Other comprehensive income (loss)		(3,420)		501		10,433
Balance at end of period	$	(251,690)	$	(251,189)	$	(240,756)

See Note 5 for further discussion on our marketable securities and see Note 11 for amounts related to our defined benefit pension plans.