Business Segment Information (Tables)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2016

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Holding Percentage of Subsidiaries

Business segment	Entity	% controlled at June 30, 2016
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 June 30,						Six months ended June 30,
	2015			2016			2015			2016
	(unaudited)
	(In millions)
Net sales:
Chemicals	$	360.2		$	356.0		$	725.3		$	674.5
Component products		28.9			27.1			56.8			54.2
Waste management		10.0			11.1			25.0			16.3
Real estate management and development		9.7			4.4			17.8			7.1
Total net sales	$	408.8		$	398.6		$	824.9		$	752.1
Cost of sales:
Chemicals	$	314.2		$	301.0		$	602.4		$	579.5
Component products		19.8			18.6			39.1			37.5
Waste management		12.4			13.6			24.5			25.3
Real estate management and development		6.1			3.2			13.3			5.6
Total cost of sales	$	352.5		$	336.4		$	679.3		$	647.9
Gross margin:
Chemicals	$	46.0		$	55.0		$	122.9		$	95.0
Component products		9.1			8.5			17.7			16.7
Waste management		(2.4	)		(2.5	)		.5			(9.0	)
Real estate management and development		3.6			1.2			4.5			1.5
Total gross margin	$	56.3		$	62.2		$	145.6		$	104.2
Operating income (loss):
Chemicals	$	(7.9	)	$	12.7		$	26.1		$	15.7
Component products		4.3			3.7			8.0			7.1
Waste management		(8.1	)		(7.1	)		(11.0	)		(17.9	)
Real estate management and development		1.6			.5			1.4			(5.4	)
Total operating income (loss)		(10.1	)		9.8			24.5			(.5	)
General corporate items:
Securities earnings		6.7			6.9			13.4			13.7
Insurance recoveries		.3			.2			3.4			.3
General expenses, net		(11.2	)		(8.6	)		(19.4	)		(20.1	)
Interest expense		(14.5	)		(15.8	)		(29.1	)		(31.5	)
Loss before income taxes	$	(28.8	)	$	(7.5	)	$	(7.2	)	$	(38.1	)