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VALHI INC DE

For the period ended Dec 31, 2023. Filed Mar 7, 2024.

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A company's yearly report to the SEC, with audited financial statements. It is the fullest account a company gives of its business, its finances and the risks it sees.

FY2023 · Filed Mar 7, 2024

VHI$16.26+0.2%Stored close · as of Nov 10, 2026

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Item 8. Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of Valhi, Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Valhi, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the related consolidated statements of operations, of comprehensive income (loss), of stockholders’ equity and of cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, including the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these consolidated financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (i) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (ii) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.

Income Taxes - Chemicals Segment

As described in Note 14 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company recorded a benefit for income taxes of $22.4 million and recorded noncurrent deferred tax asset and deferred tax liability amounts of $67.0 million and $31.8 million, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2023. As disclosed by management, the Company operates globally through its Chemicals Segment. The calculation of the Company’s provision for income taxes and its deferred tax assets and liabilities involves the interpretation and application of complex

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tax laws and regulations in a multitude of jurisdictions across the Chemicals Segment’s global operations. The Company’s effective tax rate is highly dependent upon the geographic distribution of its earnings or losses and the effects of tax laws and regulations in each tax-paying jurisdiction in which it operates. Significant judgments and estimates are required by management in determining the Company’s consolidated provision for income taxes due to the global nature of the Chemicals Segment’s operations. The Company's provision (benefit) for income taxes and deferred tax assets and liabilities reflect management's best assessment of estimated current and future taxes to be paid, including the recognition and measurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities.

The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to income taxes for the Chemicals Segment is a critical audit matter are the significant judgment by management when developing the estimate of current and future taxes to be paid, including the recognition and measurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities. This in turn led to a high degree of auditor judgment, subjectivity, and effort in performing procedures and evaluating evidence related to the recognition and measurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities and management's assessment of the estimated current and future taxes to be paid, including evaluating management’s interpretation of tax laws and regulations in jurisdictions in which the Chemicals Segment operates.

Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included testing the effectiveness of controls relating to accounting for income taxes, including controls over the identification, completeness, and recognition of permanent and temporary differences within jurisdictions in which the Chemicals Segment operates, the recognition and measurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities, the application of tax laws and regulations in the various jurisdictions in which the Chemicals Segment operates, the rate reconciliation and the provision to tax return reconciliation. These procedures also included, among others, (i) evaluating the provision for income taxes, including the accuracy of the underlying information used in the calculation by jurisdiction, as well as the reasonableness of management's judgments and estimates in the application of tax laws and regulations in certain jurisdictions in which the Chemicals Segment operates; (ii) testing the current and deferred income tax provision, including evaluating permanent and temporary differences within certain jurisdictions and management's assessment of the technical merits of the differences; (iii) performing procedures over the Company's rate reconciliation; and (iv) testing the reconciliation of the provision to the tax returns.

Environmental Remediation and Related Matters - NL Industries, Inc.

As described in Note 18 to the consolidated financial statements, management evaluates the potential range of the Company’s liability for environmental remediation and related costs at sites where NL Industries, Inc. (“NL”), a majority-owned subsidiary of the Company, has been named as a potentially responsible party (PRP) or defendant. As of December 31, 2023, management accrued approximately $91 million related to approximately 33 of NL’s sites associated with remediation and related matters. Liabilities related to environmental remediation and related matters (including costs associated with damages for property damage and/or damages for injury to natural resources) are recorded when management determines that estimated future expenditures are probable and reasonably estimable. As disclosed by management, environmental remediation and related costs accruals (and the potential range of the liabilities) are adjusted as further information becomes available or as circumstances change which involves management’s judgment regarding current facts and circumstances for each site and is subject to various assumptions and estimates.

The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to environmental remediation and related matters is a critical audit matter are the significant judgment by management when assessing the accruals and the potential range of the Company’s liabilities and when determining whether estimated future expenditures are probable and reasonably estimable, which in turn led to a high degree of auditor judgment, subjectivity and effort in performing procedures and evaluating evidence related to management’s assessment of the accruals and the potential range of the liabilities.

Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included testing the effectiveness of controls relating to management’s evaluation of NL’s environmental remediation and related

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matters (including costs and estimates associated with damages for property damage and/or damages for injury to natural resources), including controls over determining whether estimated future expenditures are probable and reasonably estimable, as well as the related financial statement disclosures. These procedures also included, among others, (i) obtaining the rollforward of NL’s environmental accrual activity for each matter and, for a sample of sites, reviewing and discussing site activity with management, (ii) obtaining and evaluating responses to letters of audit inquiry from NL’s internal and external legal counsel, and (iii) evaluating the sufficiency of the Company’s environmental remediation and related matters disclosures related to NL.

/s/PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Dallas, Texas

March 7, 2024

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 1987.

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