Stockholders' Equity

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

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 2017, 12,600 shares in 2018 and 28,250 shares in 2019.  At December 31, 2019, 113,150 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, 2019, Kronos had 140,900 shares available for award and CompX had 149,050 shares available for award.

Dividends – We did not pay dividends during 2017, 2018 or 2019.  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.

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,
	2017			2018			2019
	(In thousands)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of tax:
Currency translation:
Balance at beginning of year	$	(175,859	)	$	(164,467	)	$	(172,434	)
Other comprehensive income (loss)		11,392			(7,967	)		(409	)
Balance at end of year	$	(164,467	)	$	(172,434	)	$	(172,843	)
Defined benefit pension plans:
Balance at beginning of year	$	(76,710	)	$	(72,951	)	$	(75,286	)
Other comprehensive income (loss):
Amortization of prior service cost and net losses   included in net periodic pension cost		2,956			(2,335	)		3,539
Net actuarial gain (loss) arising during the year		803			-			(6,510	)
Balance at end of year	$	(72,951	)	$	(75,286	)	$	(78,257	)
Marketable securities:
Balance at beginning of year	$	20,473		$	46,069		$	-
Change in accounting principle		-			(46,069	)		-
Balance at beginning of year, as adjusted		20,473			-			-
Other comprehensive income:
Unrealized gain arising during the year		25,596			-			-
Balance at end of year	$	46,069		$	-		$	-
Interest rate swap:
Balance at beginning of year	$	(390	)	$	-		$	-
Other comprehensive income (loss):
Unrealized losses arising during the year		(296	)		-			-
Reclassification adjustments for amounts included in   equity in earnings of Kronos		686			-			-
Balance at end of year	$	-		$	-		$	-
Other:
Balance at beginning of year	$	(360	)	$	(388	)	$	(550	)
Other comprehensive loss		(28	)		(162	)		(40	)
Balance at end of year	$	(388	)	$	(550	)	$	(590	)
Total accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of tax:
Balance at beginning of year	$	(232,846	)	$	(191,737	)	$	(248,270	)
Change in accounting principle		-			(46,069	)		-
Balance at beginning of year, as adjusted		(232,846	)		(237,806	)		(248,270	)
Other comprehensive income (loss)		41,109			(10,464	)		(3,420	)
Balance at end of year	$	(191,737	)	$	(248,270	)	$	(251,690	)

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