Stockholders' Equity

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

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 12,600 shares in 2018, 28,250 shares in 2019 and 33,250 shares in 2020 under this plan. At December 31, 2020, 79,900 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, 2020, Kronos had 127,400 shares available for award and CompX had 140,950 shares available for award.

Dividends - We did not pay dividends during 2018 or 2019. During 2020, our board of directors approved and we paid quarterly dividends of $.04 per share to stockholders aggregating $7.8 million. 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,
	2018			2019			2020
	(In thousands)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of tax:
Currency translation:
Balance at beginning of year	$	(164,467	)	$	(172,434	)	$	(172,843	)
Other comprehensive income (loss)		(7,967	)		(409	)		3,268
Balance at end of year	$	(172,434	)	$	(172,843	)	$	(169,575	)

Defined benefit pension plans:
Balance at beginning of year	$	(72,951	)	$	(75,286	)	$	(78,257	)
Other comprehensive income (loss):
Amortization of prior service cost and net losses included in net periodic pension cost		(2,335	)		3,539			4,330
Net actuarial loss arising during the year		-			(6,510	)		(6,777	)
Balance at end of year	$	(75,286	)	$	(78,257	)	$	(80,704	)

Marketable securities:
Balance at beginning of year	$	46,069		$	-		$	-
Change in accounting principle		(46,069	)		-			-
Balance at beginning of year, as adjusted		-			-			-
Other comprehensive income:
Unrealized gain arising during the year		-			-			-
Balance at end of year	$	-		$	-		$	-

Other postretirement benefit plans:
Balance at beginning of year	$	(388	)	$	(550	)	$	(590	)
Other comprehensive loss		(162	)		(40	)		(320	)
Balance at end of year	$	(550	)	$	(590	)	$	(910	)

Total accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of tax:
Balance at beginning of year	$	(191,737	)	$	(248,270	)	$	(251,690	)
Change in accounting principle		(46,069	)		-			-
Balance at beginning of year, as adjusted		(237,806	)		(248,270	)		(251,690	)
Other comprehensive income (loss)		(10,464	)		(3,420	)		501
Balance at end of year	$	(248,270	)	$	(251,690	)	$	(251,189	)

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