v3.25.2
Employee benefit plans
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2025
Employee benefit plans.  
Employee benefit plans

Note 10 - Employee benefit plans:

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

Three months ended

Six months ended

June 30, 

June 30, 

    

2024

    

2025

    

2024

    

2025

(In millions)

Net periodic pension cost (income):

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

Service cost

$

1.6

$

1.5

$

3.3

$

2.9

Interest cost

 

4.9

 

5.4

 

9.9

 

10.6

Expected return on plan assets

 

(5.2)

 

(5.6)

 

(10.5)

 

(10.8)

Recognized actuarial losses

 

.6

 

.6

 

1.2

 

1.0

Total

$

1.9

$

1.9

$

3.9

$

3.7

We expect our 2025 contributions for our pension plans to be approximately $16 million.

We participate in a U.S. pension plan administered by NL which has been closed to new participants since 1996. In accordance with applicable U.S. pension regulations, effective June 30, 2025, NL began the process of terminating the pension plan, which includes the purchase of annuity contracts from a third-party insurance company for the purpose of distributing benefits to plan participants. The termination process involves several steps and is expected to take between six and 12 months to complete. Following the purchase of the annuity contracts for plan participants, we will remove pension plan assets and liabilities from our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and a plan settlement gain or loss (which we are currently unable to estimate) will be included in our net periodic pension cost. The plan termination is expected to be completed with existing plan funds. At December 31, 2024, the U.S. pension plan had a benefit obligation of $38.6 million and plan assets of $48.9 million, resulting in a net pension plan asset of $10.3 million.