Stockholders' Equity

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

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, and up to a maximum of 200,000 shares can be awarded.  We awarded 9,000 shares under this plan in each of 2014 and 2015 and 14,000 shares in 2016.  At December 31, 2016, 163,000 shares were available for future grants under this plan.

Long-term incentive compensation plan 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, 2016, Kronos had 163,500 shares available for award and CompX had 173,000 shares available for award.

Dividends - In February 2014, our Board of Directors deferred consideration of a first quarter 2014 cash dividend, and no dividend was paid in the first quarter of that year.  In May 2014, after considering our results of operations, financial conditions and cash requirements for our businesses, our Board of Directors suspended our regular quarterly dividend.  The declaration and payment of future dividends, and the amount thereof, is discretionary and is dependent upon these and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors.

Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) -Changes in accumulated other comprehensive income (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,
	2014			2015			2016
	(In thousands)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax:
Marketable securities:
Balance at beginning of year	$	154,169		$	47,112		$	195
Other comprehensive income (loss):
Unrealized gain (loss) arising during the year		(107,057	)		(48,647	)		20,278
Less reclassification adjustment for amounts included
in realized loss		-			1,730			-
Balance at end of year	$	47,112		$	195		$	20,473
Currency translation:
Balance at beginning of year	$	(133,816	)	$	(154,173	)	$	(172,384	)
Other comprehensive income (loss):
Arising during the year		(20,357	)		(18,211	)		(3,475	)
Balance at end of year	$	(154,173	)	$	(172,384	)	$	(175,859	)
Interest rate swap:
Balance at beginning of year	$	-		$	-		$	(445	)
Other comprehensive income (loss):
Unrealized gains (losses) arising during the year		-			(560	)		(393	)
Reclassification adjustments for amounts included in equity   in earnings of Kronos		-			115			448
Balance at end of year	$	-		$	(445	)	$	(390	)
Defined benefit pension plans:
Balance at beginning of year	$	(56,644	)	$	(75,260	)	$	(72,712	)
Other comprehensive income (loss):
Amortization of prior service cost and net losses
included in net periodic pension cost		2,107			2,884			2,655
Net actuarial gain (loss) arising during the year		(20,723	)		(336	)		(6,653	)
Balance at end of year	$	(75,260	)	$	(72,712	)	$	(76,710	)
OPEB plans:
Balance at beginning of year	$	1,275		$	282		$	(12	)
Other comprehensive income (loss):
Amortization of prior service credit and net losses
included in net periodic OPEB cost		(626	)		(547	)		(529	)
Net actuarial gain (loss) arising during year		(367	)		253			181
Balance at end of year	$	282		$	(12	)	$	(360	)
Total accumulated other comprehensive income (loss), net    of tax:
Balance at beginning of year	$	(35,016	)	$	(182,039	)	$	(245,358	)
Other comprehensive income (loss)		(147,023	)		(63,319	)		12,512
Balance at end of year	$	(182,039	)	$	(245,358	)	$	(232,846	)

See Note 11 for amounts related to our defined benefit pension plans and OPEB plans.