Business Segment Information (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Holding Percentage of Subsidiaries

Business segment	Entity	% controlled at September 30, 2015
Chemicals	Kronos	80	%
Component products	CompX	87	%
Waste management	WCS	100	%
Real estate management and development	BMI and LandWell	63% - 77	%

Segment Operating Performance

	Three months ended September 30,						Nine months ended September 30,
		2014			2015		2014			2015
	(unaudited)
	(In millions)
Net sales:
Chemicals	$	414.8		$	336.5		$	1,278.4		$	1,061.8
Component products		26.5			26.5			79.1			83.3
Waste management		24.5			9.9			43.4			34.9
Real estate management and development		10.7			10.3			29.7			28.1
Total net sales	$	476.5		$	383.2		$	1,430.6		$	1,208.1
Cost of sales:
Chemicals	$	319.7		$	293.7		$	1,010.2		$	896.1
Component products		18.3			18.4			54.6			57.5
Waste management		12.8			13.3			35.4			37.8
Real estate management and development		9.9			8.0			24.6			21.3
Total cost of sales	$	360.7		$	333.4		$	1,124.8		$	1,012.7
Gross margin:
Chemicals	$	95.1		$	42.8		$	268.2		$	165.7
Component products		8.2			8.1			24.5			25.8
Waste management		11.7			(3.4	)		8.0			(2.9	)
Real estate management and development		.8			2.3			5.1			6.8
Total gross margin	$	115.8		$	49.8		$	305.8		$	195.4
Operating income (loss):
Chemicals	$	49.7		$	(1.3	)	$	123.6		$	24.8
Component products		3.4			3.4			10.6			11.4
Waste management		6.9			(8.3	)		(6.6	)		(19.3	)
Real estate management and development		.2			1.2			2.1			2.6
Total operating income (loss)		60.2			(5.0	)		129.7			19.5
General corporate items:
Securities earnings		6.9			6.5			20.3			19.9
Insurance recoveries		8.8			.1			10.0			3.5
General expenses, net		(8.8	)		(10.0	)		(31.0	)		(29.4	)
Interest expense		(13.8	)		(14.4	)		(42.1	)		(43.5	)
Income (loss) before income taxes	$	53.3		$	(22.8	)	$	86.9		$	(30.0	)