Kronos Worldwide, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend and Results of Annual Stockholder Meeting

Kronos Worldwide, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend and Results of Annual Stockholder Meeting

Dallas, Texas, May 18, 2022 (Globe newswire) — for immidiate release

Announcement

Kronos Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: KRO) announced that its board of directors has declared a regular quarterly dividend of nineteen cents ($0.19) per share on its common stock, payable on June 16, 2022 to stockholders of record at the close of business on June 6, 2022.

Kronos Worldwide also announced that at its 2022 annual stockholder meeting held today its stockholders had:

  • elected each of Loretta J. Feehan, Robert D. Graham, John E. Harper, Meredith W. Mendes, Cecil H. Moore, Jr., Thomas P. Stafford, and R. Gerald Turner as a director for a one year term; and
  • adopted a resolution that approved, on a nonbinding advisory basis, the compensation of its named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement for the 2022 annual stockholder meeting.

Following the annual meeting of stockholders, today the Kronos Worldwide board of directors increased the size of the board from seven to nine and elected R. Colin Gouveia and James M. Buch to fill the newly created vacancies. The board of directors also appointed Mr. Gouveia to serve on its audit committee.

Kronos Worldwide, Inc. is a major international producer of titanium dioxide products.

Contact

Janet Keckeisen, Vice President, Investor Relations

(972) 233-1700

Reporting Hotline

KRONOS has partnered with EthicsPoint to provide a mechanism for confidential and anonymous reporting of governance, accounting, ethics, human rights and other violations of company policies or laws applicable to the company. The hotline is available to employees as well as external stakeholders, including those in our supply chain. Please click here to make a confidential online or telephone report.

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Corporate Governance Documents

Corporate Governance Documents

Leadership

Leadership

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity

ESG Governance

ESG Governance

Investor Relations

Investor Relations

Our Leadership Philosophy

Leadership is a behavior we all embrace, regardless of job title. As leaders we ensure expectations and responsibilities are clear, lead by example, and motivate and support each other, always showing appreciation for each other’s talent and dedication. We focus on results, and we never shy away from the opportunity to improve. As leaders, we embody our culture. 

A Message from Our CEO

“We are one global leadership team, aligned in our mission to make KRONOS the right choice for our customers, employees, partners, and communities.”

Jim Buch, President & CEO

Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors is comprised of eight elected members with hundreds of combined years of relevant education, work experience, and training. Many of our Board members have experience working in large firms, universities, and publicly traded companies. We strive for diversity of members in relations to skills, expertise, and background. In order for an individual to be considered as a nominee for our Board, they must possess an extensive background in senior management, policymaking, or accounting/finance. We provide information on our Board members annually in our Proxy Statement submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The most recent Proxy Statement is available in the Investors section of this site.

Functional Leadership Team

At KRONOS, our operations are led by a Functional Leadership Team (FLT), comprised of our CEO and senior leaders in all functional areas of the company. Key functional areas of our business leadership include manufacturing and technology, research and development, finance, legal, ESG, human resources, sales and marketing, supply chain, information technology, and more. This team brings together all perspectives to address key business topics, critical projects, strategic goals, and continuous improvement across the company. The FLT meets regularly to review key metrics and ensures our focus remains on our business, our customers, and our people.

ESG Leadership

Built upon our long-standing governance structure of compliance and ethics-oriented leadership, policies, controls, and practices, KRONOS has a robust ESG management approach.  ESG elements permeate almost every corner of our company, and our management model has evolved to position ESG as a central department within our organization.  Information, innovation, and action plans flow back and forth from ESG to and from our functional areas.  This allows us to tap into the expertise, capabilities and passion of a broad base of employees and managers across the company and to achieve progress on a number of environmental, social, and governance topics.  Our Chief Transformation Officer is responsible for managing our overall ESG programs, making recommendations to executive management and regularly communicating about ESG matters with our Board of Directors.

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Investor Relations

Cybersecurity

The World Economic Forum has identified “Company Risk and Opportunity Oversight” as part of a core set of material Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) metrics that should be disclosed by companies on a consistent basis, which includes data security.

KRONOS’ cybersecurity program is built on operations and compliance foundations.  Operations is focused on continuous detection, prevention, measurement, analysis, and response to cybersecurity alerts and incidents and on known and unknown threats.  Compliance oversight of the cybersecurity program is established through risk-based controls to protect the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of company data stored, processed, or transferred.

We have a Security Operations Center to monitor, maintain, and proactively address cybersecurity threats and implement defenses, real-time, as they evolve.

Cybersecurity Foundational Pillars

The cybersecurity team regularly reports on operations and compliance to the Board of Directors.

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Reporting Violations

Ethics, Integrity, and Compliance

KRONOS’ commitment to ethics and compliance starts with our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, a standard that applies to all KRONOS employees worldwide. The Code sets forth our expectation that employees conduct business in compliance with applicable laws and that our employees, suppliers and business partners act ethically and with integrity and honesty at all times.

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KRONOS’ Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is at the core of our business.  Our governance and ESG policies build upon these commitments.  The following links will take you to our highest-level policies from which other company guidelines, workflows and topic-specific policies flow.

Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

Learn more

Corporate Governance Guidelines

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Safety, Environment, Energy & Quality Policy

Learn more

Audit Committee Charter

Learn more

Procedures Regarding Accounting Complaints or Concerns

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Related Party Transactions Policy

Learn more

Supplier Code of Conduct

Learn more

Human Rights Policy

Learn more

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KRONOSafe

Safety is a core value shared by all at KRONOS. We protect ourselves and our co-workers through constant attention to safety and safe behaviors. It is this culture of safety that supports our “Go for Zero” injuries.

Safety is a Top Priority

The safety of our workforce is critical to our success. We are committed to maintaining a strong safety culture where all employees meet or exceed industry performance standards and continuously seek to improve occupational and process safety performance. We demonstrate our commitment by ensuring our processes, plants and other facilities maintain safe operations, and by providing our employees with the tools and training necessary to make the right decisions to prevent accidents and injuries.

Our Approach

Worker safety is actively managed by a robust management structure and system.  Our SEEQ policy communicates that the safety of our workers is a top priority of the company.  Guidelines, standards, work instructions, sharing of best practices, and training at the corporate and individual site levels are keys to our success.  From the shop floor to executive management, all employees must share in the responsibility to keep each other safe.  Each location employs dedicated, and experienced safety managers supported by a global safety management structure ultimately reporting to executive management.

KRONOSafe

A culture-based approach

Despite our existing strong safety programs and tools, we continue to experience a low number of preventable injuries. Our aim is zero injuries, so in 2020, KRONOS initiated a new and innovative long-term global approach to safety improvement. We will not be satisfied until we achieve zero injuries at every facility, but this goal can only be realized through a company-wide attitude and culture where each employee, regardless of position or title, takes ownership and responsibility for their own safety and safety of others around them.

A strong safety culture requires diligence, honest communication, and a strong sense of community in the workplace. To reach zero incidents, these must become second nature to everyone. In 2020, KRONOS issued the Global Safety Culture Guideline, Rules, Accountability, and Communications providing minimum standards and safety rules applicable to all KRONOS employees. The guideline sets a long-term plan to enhance safety performance through enhanced communication, training, and accountability for both positive and negative behaviors.

How We Stay Safe

Clear Safety Rules and Work Procedures

Health & Safety Management Systems

On-Site Training

Strong Global & Local HSE Teams

Industry Best Practices

Key Performance Indicators & Targets

Safety Culture Guidelines

KRONOSafe Initiatives

Benchmarking

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KRONOS Cares

KRONOS Cares

Corporate Governance

Corporate Governance

Environmental

Environmental

ESG Documents and Reports

ESG Documents and Reports

Responsible Supply Chain

KRONOS sources multiple varieties of high-grade CP feedstocks as well as other materials and services from multiple suppliers around the globe. We approach the market for many raw materials from a global perspective as it relates to negotiating and securing supply, while taking into account local operational needs and ESG compliance and impacts. Please click here for ESG policies and reports related to the supply chain.

Supplier Code of Conduct

KRONOS is committed to the highest standards of product safety and quality, business integrity, and human rights when we are dealing with our customers, suppliers, and employees.

Our Supplier Code of Conduct reflects KRONOS’ commitments and sets forth requirements for our suppliers related to ethics and integrity, labor and employment practices, protecting human rights, worker safety, environmental protection, and preventing discrimination. Our suppliers are required to either directly sign our Supplier Code or submit their own equivalent code or policy which is then subject to legal review within our organization.

Supply Chain Compliance

KRONOS has implemented a due diligence and risk management program focused on our suppliers to support compliance with supply chain regulations currently in effect in Germany and Norway and those proposed in other jurisdictions including the European Union and Canada. Our program is designed to consistently evaluate environmental, social and governance/ethics (ESG) risk and impacts on our supply chain, including but not limited to human rights and working conditions.

Our sustainable procurement team uses a two-step approach when carrying out ESG due diligence assessments of our suppliers. The first step entails carrying out an initial, high-level assessment of the potential risks to which KRONOS may be exposed. This step provides us with ESG risk profiling of our suppliers based on their country and sector ESG risk statistics. Based on this initial mapping, we can identify which suppliers and business partners are linked to the potential risks. In the second step, we prioritize the most significant risks for a more detailed assessment and implement suitable measures to address risks and adverse impacts.

In performing these assessments, our sustainable procurement team uses a collaborative platform, EcoVadis, to annually assess, track and improve our suppliers’ sustainability performance. The outcome of the supply chain ESG risk analysis enables KRONOS to identify the highest ESG risks in the supply chain. If our sustainable procurement team identifies any actual adverse ESG impacts through our assessment process, we will work with the supplier to develop a corrective action plan.

ESG Ratings

To honor our ESG commitments, since 2012  KRONOS partners with EcoVadis, an independent service providing sustainability ratings with a strong focus on broad ESG performance in the global supply chain. We use our EcoVadis rating to memorialize our efforts and benchmark our progress in ESG topic areas most relevant to our customers, industry, and supply chain. KRONOS participates in annual Together for Sustainability (TfS), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) assessments administered and scored by EcoVadis. We have hold an IntegrityNext rating.

We now partner directly with several of our largest customers through the EcoVadis online platform. To address risks in the supply chain KRONOS recently engaged EcoVadis to expand our existing partnership to include evaluations of our own suppliers’ sustainability performance.

 

Supply Chain Reporting

Reports of ESG risks in our supply chain can be reported through our Reporting Hotline.

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KRONOSafe

KRONOSafe

Product Safety & Stewardship

Product Safety & Stewardship

KRONOS Cares

KRONOS Cares

Product Safety & Stewardship Commitment

We believe that product stewardship is one of the cornerstones of a successful and sustainable business. KRONOS is firmly committed to strong product stewardship through robust business processes that identify, manage, and minimize safety, health, and environmental risks associated with our products.  We apply our company values of innovation and continual improvement to designing safe and environmentally sound products that meet regulatory requirements and for specified uses and align with the principles of ESG.  We are committed to providing timely and relevant technical and regulatory information about our products to our customers.

Product Compliance

While our products have been in safe use for more than 100 years, confirmed by substantial science, the world is moving toward stricter control of all chemical substances as well as applying new and emerging science to determine or confirm the safety of such substances. Titanium dioxide also has received attention from certain regulators. To tackle this new and enhanced chemical control movement, KRONOS is applying an attitude and spirit of innovation to address these changes proactively and to take our values to the next level for the benefit of our customers, consumers, and regulators through our product stewardship program.

Providing Information to our Customers

Communication with our customers about regulatory and other relevant product information is increasingly critical for our success and theirs. In recent years we have seen the number of customer requests for information dramatically increase.

In addition to this increasing need for information, we have substantially increased the depth of our analysis and understanding of worldwide existing and new regulations, as well as areas of scientific or safety interest. This enables us to provide significantly more detailed and sophisticated information to our customers.

For an even greater reach, KRONOS is an active participant in well-respected industry associations where we and our peers pool efforts and expertise for the betterment of our products and industry.

KRONOS is an Active Member of Titanium Dioxide Manufacturers Association (TDMA)

Titanium Dioxide Manufacturers Association (TDMA) – a sector group of the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic). TDMA represents the major producers of titanium dioxide (TiO2) and has been their voice in Europe since 1974. Located in Brussels, Belgium.

KRONOS is an Active Member of Titanium Dioxide Industry Consortium (TDIC)

Manages EU REACH registration of titanium dioxide and related manufacturing process intermediates and assists in similar REACH regulations coming on-line in certain other jurisdictions. Located in Brussels, Belgium.

KRONOS is an Active Member of Titanium Dioxide Stewardship Council (TDSC)

Titanium Dioxide Stewardship Council (TDSC) – a subgroup of the American Chemistry Council (ACC). Promotes safe use of TiO2 through research, product stewardship, advocacy, and outreach efforts. Located in Washington, DC.

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Existing customers may complete the form below for product-specific stewardship information.

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    Environmental Compliance

    We are proud of our long history of strong environmental compliance at all levels and locations of our company.  Our environmental programs are built upon our core values of ethics and integrity embedded in our key company policies: the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and the global Safety, Environment, Energy, Quality (SEEQ) Policy.

    Our Approach

    Each year, our CEO reviews and updates our SEEQ Policy from which flow our global environmental standards memorialized in various global policies and guidelines applicable to all locations. However, the heart of environmental compliance rests on our operational leaders, plant managers and local teams of environmental professionals, who are responsible for setting detailed workflows and implementing global and local compliance management actions at each operating location. We closely track key performance indicators (including leading indicators) to head off potential incidents and to provide the information we need to continuously improve.

    ISO 14001 & Responsible Care

    To support our compliance programs, each titanium dioxide operating facility maintains a site-specific environmental management system aligned with ISO 14001:2015 and/or Responsible Care.  These systems address each facility’s need to maintain compliance with local laws and regulations.

    Our four European operating facilities hold ISO 14001:2015 certifications, while our Canadian facility is certified to the Responsible Care standard.  Additionally, some of our European facilities are also subject to the SEVESO III Directive, providing an additional layer of regulatory requirements related to environmental protection and worker and process safety.

    These systems utilize internal and external audit processes that conform to the ISO 14001:2015 or Responsible Care standard and ensure adherence to KRONOS guidelines, applicable local and national laws, and SEVESO standards.  We have also implemented rigorous procedures for incident reporting and investigation, including root cause analysis of environmental and safety incidents and near misses, identifying appropriate corrective actions to prevent reoccurrence.

    Loss of Primary Containment Tracking – a Leading Indicator for Compliance

    In 2018 KRONOS implemented a new key performance indicator – Loss of Primary Containment – intended to identify and quantify unintentional releases from manufacturing process equipment and piping that do not trigger regulatory reporting or notification. An LoPC is defined as an unplanned or uncontrolled release of material from within its primary containment.  LoPCs do not require reporting to local authorities because they remain contained in secondary containment systems or otherwise do not impact the environment. However, in the event a release requires regulatory notification, it becomes an Environmental Incident.  In this way, the rate of occurrence of LoPCs serves as a leading indicator to prevent Environmental Incidents.  We have made good progress on reducing the number of LoPCs and thus Environmental Incidents since the inception of this program.

    LoPC is an internal benchmark we use to identify progress and opportunities for improvement.  This metric is not intended to be directly comparable to similar metrics utilized by other companies to track environmental performance.

     

    Environmental Incident Tracking

    KRONOS tracks environmental incidents of all magnitudes, including minor deviations.  In the event a release or other incident meets or exceeds a local regulatory reporting requirement, we track it as an Environmental Incident. Notification is provided to the local authorities and an internal root cause analysis takes place followed by appropriate corrective action measures designed to prevent recurrence.

    Our goal is zero incidents.  In 2018 we implemented the new LoPC leading performance indicator, which allows us to identify potential conditions that could lead to an incident.  Since then, through root cause analysis and proactive actions, we have seen a dramatic decrease in the number of reportable incidents.

    Environmental Incident tracking is an internal benchmark we use to identify progress and opportunities for improvement.  This metric is not intended to be directly comparable to similar metrics utilized by other companies to track environmental performance.

     

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    Energy Use & Decarbonization

    Energy Use & Decarbonization

    Circular Economy & KRONOS ecochem®

    Circular Economy & KRONOS ecochem®

    Natural Resources

    Natural Resources

    Natural Resources

    KRONOS depends on the availability of various natural resources to produce the highest quality titanium dioxide for our customers.  However, we continuously strive to minimize our environmental footprint and mitigate our impact on local ecosystems.  We seek new ways to further enhance product yield from various feedstocks and minimize water use.

    Water Use

    KRONOS recognizes that water is critical for socio-economic development, energy and food production, and healthy ecosystems.  All KRONOS production facilities have programs and systems in place prompting ongoing monitoring of water consumption and routine identification of opportunities to decrease this consumption through minimization, reuse, and recycling.

    River and canal water is primarily used by KRONOS as cooling water, after which some is reused in rinsing, cleaning, and washing process applications.  Purified water is initially used to wash final products and to generate steam and is also reused several times throughout the process.

    Beneficial Land Reuse

    Reforestation at Former Sandbekk Mine in Norway

    From 1916 until 1965, KRONOS mined the underground Storgangen deposit via our Sandbekk Mine located in Norway.  During mining operations, rock tailings were lawfully deposited in areas near the mine, a common practice at the time.

    KRONOS has implemented several measures, starting in 1973, to return areas near the mine used for mining activities to natural conditions and beneficial use.  Wind catches were installed to control dust, and extensive revegetation and reforesting were performed.  Plantings including many different species of trees and other flora, including 24,000 pine trees along with grain, grass, Maple, and Ash trees.  A series of natural anaerobic wetlands were also constructed at lower elevations.

    Today, the vegetation and tree growth cover more than 75% of these areas, which now resemble a mature forest.  The area is now used as a popular outdoor area for recreation and the old ore railways that follow the Sandbekk River are also very popular for hiking and biking, especially for young families and children.

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    Environmental Compliance

    Environmental Compliance

    Energy Use & Decarbonization

    Energy Use & Decarbonization

    Circular Economy & KRONOS ecochem®

    Circular Economy & KRONOS ecochem®