Business Segment Information (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Holding Percentage of Subsidiaries

Business segment	Entity	% controlled at September 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 September 30,						Nine months ended September 30,
	2015			2016			2015			2016
	(unaudited)
	(In millions)
Net sales:
Chemicals	$	336.5		$	356.1		$	1,061.8		$	1,030.6
Component products		26.5			28.4			83.3			82.6
Waste management		9.9			13.6			34.9			29.9
Real estate management and development		10.3			8.7			28.1			15.8
Total net sales	$	383.2		$	406.8		$	1,208.1		$	1,158.9
Cost of sales:
Chemicals	$	293.7		$	281.1		$	896.1		$	860.6
Component products		18.4			19.0			57.5			56.5
Waste management		13.3			14.1			37.8			39.4
Real estate management and development		8.0			7.3			21.3			12.9
Total cost of sales	$	333.4		$	321.5		$	1,012.7		$	969.4
Gross margin:
Chemicals	$	42.8		$	75.0		$	165.7		$	170.0
Component products		8.1			9.4			25.8			26.1
Waste management		(3.4	)		(.5	)		(2.9	)		(9.5	)
Real estate management and development		2.3			1.4			6.8			2.9
Total gross margin	$	49.8		$	85.3		$	195.4		$	189.5
Operating income (loss):
Chemicals	$	(1.3	)	$	30.1		$	24.8		$	45.8
Component products		3.4			4.4			11.4			11.5
Waste management		(8.3	)		(5.1	)		(19.3	)		(23.0	)
Real estate management and development		1.2			.3			2.6			(5.1	)
Total operating income (loss)		(5.0	)		29.7			19.5			29.2
General corporate items:
Securities earnings		6.5			6.8			19.9			20.5
Insurance recoveries		.1			.1			3.5			.4
General expenses, net		(10.0	)		(9.1	)		(29.4	)		(29.2	)
Interest expense		(14.4	)		(15.9	)		(43.5	)		(47.4	)
Income (loss) before income taxes	$	(22.8	)	$	11.6		$	(30.0	)	$	(26.5	)