Note 1 - Organization and basis of presentation:

Organization - At March 31, 2021, Valhi, Inc. (NYSE: VHI) held approximately 50% of our outstanding common stock and a wholly-owned subsidiary of NL Industries, Inc. (NYSE: NL) held approximately 30% of our common stock.  Valhi owned approximately 83% of NL’s outstanding common stock and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Contran Corporation held approximately 92% of Valhi’s outstanding common stock. A majority of Contran's outstanding voting stock is held directly by Lisa K. Simmons and various family trusts established for the benefit of Ms. Simmons, Thomas C. Connelly (the husband of Ms. Simmons’ late sister) and their children and for which Ms. Simmons or Mr. Connelly, as applicable, serve as trustee (collectively, the “Other Trusts”).  With respect to the Other Trusts for which Mr. Connelly serves as trustee, he is required to vote the shares of Contran voting stock held in such trusts in the same manner as Ms. Simmons. Such voting rights of Ms. Simmons last through April 22, 2030 and are personal to Ms. Simmons.  The remainder of Contran’s outstanding voting stock is held by another trust (the “Family Trust”), which was established for the benefit of Ms. Simmons and her late sister and their children and for which a third-party financial institution serves as trustee. Consequently, at March 31, 2021 Ms. Simmons and the Family Trust may be deemed to control Contran, and therefore may be deemed to indirectly control the wholly-owned subsidiary of Contran, Valhi, NL and us.

Note 2 - Accounts and other receivables, net:

Note 3 - Inventories, net:

Note 4 - Marketable securities:

Our marketable securities consist of investments in the publicly-traded shares of related parties: Valhi, NL and CompX International Inc.  NL owns the majority of CompX’s outstanding common stock.  All of our marketable securities are accounted for as available-for-sale securities, which are carried at fair value using quoted market prices in active markets for each marketable security and represent a Level 1 input within the fair value hierarchy.  Any unrealized gains or losses on the securities are recognized in Other income (expense) - Marketable equity securities on our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income.  

At December 31, 2020 and March 31, 2021, we held approximately 144,000 shares of Valhi’s common stock. We also held a nominal number of shares of NL and CompX common stocks.  At December 31, 2020 and March 31, 2021, the per share quoted market price of Valhi’s common stock was $15.20 and $20.51, respectively.

The Valhi, CompX and NL common stocks we own are subject to restrictions on resale pursuant to certain provisions of SEC Rule 144.  In addition, as a majority-owned subsidiary of Valhi we cannot vote our shares of Valhi common stock under Delaware General Corporation law, but we receive dividends from Valhi on these shares when declared and paid.

Note 5 - Long-term debt:

Senior Notes - At March 31, 2021, the carrying value of our 3.75% Senior Secured Notes due September 15, 2025 (€400 million aggregate principal amount outstanding) is stated net of unamortized debt issuance costs of $4.3 million.

Revolving credit facilities - On April 20, 2021, we entered into a new global $225 million revolving credit facility (Global Revolver) which matures in April 2026.   The Global Revolver replaces our previously existing North American and European revolving credit facilities and there were no borrowings on either facility in 2021 through their termination concurrent with entering into the Global Revolver.  The full $225 million was available for borrowing upon the commencement of the Global Revolver.  Borrowings under the Global Revolver are available for our general corporate purposes. Available borrowings are based on formula-determined amounts of eligible trade receivables and inventories, as defined in the agreement, less any outstanding letters of credit issued under the Global Revolver.   Borrowings by our Canadian, Belgian and German subsidiaries are limited to $25 million, €30 million and €60 million, respectively.  Any amounts outstanding under the Global Revolver bear interest, at our option, at the applicable non-base rate (LIBOR, CDOR or EURIBOR, dependent on the currency of the borrowing) plus a margin ranging from 1.5% to 2.0%, or at the applicable base rate, as defined in the agreement, plus a margin ranging from .5% to 2.0%.  The Global Revolver is collateralized by, among other things, a first priority lien on the borrowers’ trade receivables and inventories. The facility contains a number of covenants and restrictions customary in lending transactions of this type which, among other things, restrict the borrowers’ ability to incur additional debt, incur liens, pay additional dividends or merge or consolidate with, or sell or transfer all or substantially all of their assets to another entity and, under certain conditions, requires the maintenance of a fixed charge coverage ratio, as defined in the agreement, of at least 1.0 to 1.0.

Note 6 - Accounts payable and accrued liabilities:

Note 7 - Other noncurrent liabilities:

Note 8 - Revenue recognition:

Note 9 - Employee benefit plans:

The components of net periodic defined benefit pension cost are presented in the table below.

Note 10 - Income taxes:

The amount shown in the preceding table of our income tax rate reconciliation for non-U.S. tax rates represents the result determined by multiplying the pre-tax earnings or losses of each of our non-U.S. subsidiaries by the difference between the applicable statutory income tax rate for each non-U.S. jurisdiction and the U.S. federal statutory tax rate.  The amount shown on such table for incremental net tax expense (benefit) on earnings and losses of U.S. and non-U.S. companies includes, as applicable, (i) deferred income taxes (or deferred income tax benefits) associated with the current-year earnings of all of our non-U.S. subsidiaries and (ii) current U.S. income taxes (or current income tax benefit) including U.S. personal holding company tax, as applicable, attributable to current-year income (losses) of one of our non-U.S. subsidiaries, which subsidiary is treated as a dual resident for U.S. income tax purposes, to the extent the current-year income (losses) of such subsidiaries is subject to U.S. income tax under the U.S. dual-resident provisions of the Internal Revenue Code.

On March 27, 2020, the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act” was signed into law in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The CARES Act, among other things, includes modifications to the limitation of business interest for tax years beginning in 2019 and 2020 increasing the business interest limitation from 30% of adjusted taxable income to 50% of adjusted taxable income which increased our allowable interest expense deduction for 2019 and 2020.  Consequently, in the first quarter of 2020 we recognized a cash tax benefit of $.5 million related to the reversal of the valuation allowance recognized in 2019 for the portion of the disallowed interest expense we did not expect to fully utilize at December 31, 2019.  

Tax authorities are examining certain of our U.S. and non-U.S. tax returns and may propose tax deficiencies, including penalties and interest.  We believe we have adequate accruals for additional taxes and related interest expense which could ultimately result from tax examinations.  We believe the ultimate disposition of tax examinations should not have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or liquidity.  We currently estimate that our unrecognized tax benefits will decrease by approximately $1.1 million during the next twelve months primarily due to the expiration of certain statutes of limitations.

Note 11 – Accumulated other comprehensive loss:

Note 12 - Commitments and contingencies:

We are involved in various environmental, contractual, product liability, patent (or intellectual property), employment and other claims and disputes incidental to our business.  At least quarterly our management discusses and evaluates the status of any pending litigation to which we are a party.  The factors considered in such evaluation include, among other things, the nature of such pending cases, the status of such pending cases, the advice of legal counsel and our experience in similar cases (if any).  Based on such evaluation, we make a determination as to whether we believe (i) it is probable a loss has been incurred, and if so if the amount of such loss (or a range of loss) is reasonably estimable, or (ii) it is reasonably possible but not probable a loss has been incurred, and if so if the amount of such loss (or a range of loss) is reasonably estimable, or (iii) the probability a loss has been incurred is remote.  We have not accrued any amounts for litigation matters because it is not reasonably possible we have incurred a loss that would be material to our consolidated financial statements, results of operations or liquidity.  

Note 13 - Financial instruments:

See Note 4 for information on how we determine fair value of our marketable securities.

At March 31, 2021, the estimated market price of our Senior Notes was €1,019 per €1,000 principal amount.  The fair value of our Senior Notes was based on quoted market prices; however, these quoted market prices represented Level 2 inputs because the markets in which the Senior Notes trade were not active.  Due to their near-term maturities, the carrying amounts of accounts receivable and accounts payable are considered equivalent to fair value.  See Notes 2 and 6.