Business Segment Information (Tables)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2015

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Holding Percentage of Subsidiaries

Business segment	Entity	% controlled at June 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 June 30,						Six months ended June 30,
		2014			2015		2014			2015
	(unaudited)
	(In millions)
Net sales:
Chemicals	$	443.5		$	360.2		$	863.6		$	725.3
Component products		26.8			28.9			52.6			56.8
Waste management		11.9			10.0			18.9			25.0
Real estate management and development		9.5			9.7			19.0			17.8
Total net sales	$	491.7		$	408.8		$	954.1		$	824.9
Cost of sales:
Chemicals	$	350.3		$	314.2		$	690.5		$	602.4
Component products		18.3			19.8			36.3			39.1
Waste management		11.9			12.4			22.6			24.5
Real estate management and development		7.0			6.1			14.7			13.3
Total cost of sales	$	387.5		$	352.5		$	764.1		$	679.3
Gross margin:
Chemicals	$	93.2		$	46.0		$	173.1		$	122.9
Component products		8.5			9.1			16.3			17.7
Waste management		—			(2.4	)		(3.7	)		.5
Real estate management and development		2.5			3.6			4.3			4.5
Total gross margin	$	104.2		$	56.3		$	190.0		$	145.6
Operating income (loss):
Chemicals	$	46.3		$	(7.9	)	$	73.9		$	26.1
Component products		3.9			4.3			7.2			8.0
Waste management		(5.0	)		(8.1	)		(13.5	)		(11.0	)
Real estate management and development		1.5			1.6			1.9			1.4
Total operating income (loss)		46.7			(10.1	)		69.5			24.5
General corporate items:
Securities earnings		6.6			6.7			13.4			13.4
Insurance recoveries		.4			.3			1.2			3.4
General expenses, net		(13.9	)		(11.2	)		(22.2	)		(19.4	)
Interest expense		(14.6	)		(14.5	)		(28.3	)		(29.1	)
Income (loss) before income taxes	$	25.2		$	(28.8	)	$	33.6		$	(7.2	)