Business Segment Information (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Holding Percentage of Subsidiaries

Business segment	Entity	% controlled at September 30, 2014
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,
	2013			2014			2013			2014
	(unaudited)
	(In millions)
Net sales:
Chemicals	$	419.1		$	414.8		$	1,363.8		$	1,278.4
Component products		24.2			26.5			69.7			79.1
Waste management		4.9			24.5			29.9			43.4
Real estate management and development		—			10.7			—			29.7
Total net sales	$	448.2		$	476.5		$	1,463.4		$	1,430.6
Cost of sales:
Chemicals	$	372.4		$	319.7		$	1,304.8		$	1,010.2
Component products		16.7			18.3			48.6			54.6
Waste management		10.5			12.8			31.3			35.4
Real estate management and development		—			9.9			—			24.6
Total cost of sales	$	399.6		$	360.7		$	1,384.7		$	1,124.8
Gross margin:
Chemicals	$	46.7		$	95.1		$	59.0		$	268.2
Component products		7.5			8.2			21.1			24.5
Waste management		(5.6	)		11.7			(1.4	)		8.0
Real estate management and development		—			.8			—			5.1
Total gross margin	$	48.6		$	115.8		$	78.7		$	305.8
Operating income (loss):
Chemicals	$	(35.2	)	$	49.7		$	(125.6	)	$	123.6
Component products		3.0			3.4			7.4			10.6
Waste management		(10.3	)		6.9			(16.3	)		(6.6	)
Real estate management and development		—			.2			—			2.1
Total operating income (loss)		(42.5	)		60.2			(134.5	)		129.7
Equity in earnings of investees		—			—			(.8	)		—
General corporate items:
Securities earnings		6.6			6.9			19.9			20.3
Insurance recoveries		2.2			8.8			3.8			10.0
Loss on prepayment of debt		(2.3	)		—			(8.9	)		—
General expenses, net		(10.1	)		(8.8	)		(41.4	)		(31.0	)
Interest expense		(13.7	)		(13.8	)		(43.8	)		(42.1	)
Income (loss) before income taxes	$	(59.8	)	$	53.3		$	(205.7	)	$	86.9