Business Segment Information (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Holding Percentage of Subsidiaries

Business segment	Entity	% controlled at March 31, 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 March 31,
		2015			2016
	(unaudited)
Net sales:
Chemicals	$	365.1		$	318.5
Component products		27.9			27.1
Waste management		15.0			5.2
Real estate management and development		8.1			2.7
Total net sales	$	416.1		$	353.5
Cost of sales:
Chemicals	$	288.2		$	278.5
Component products		19.3			18.9
Waste management		12.1			11.7
Real estate management and development		7.2			2.4
Total cost of sales	$	326.8		$	311.5
Gross margin:
Chemicals	$	76.9		$	40.0
Component products		8.6			8.2
Waste management		2.9			(6.5	)
Real estate management and development		.9			.3
Total gross margin	$	89.3		$	42.0
Operating income (loss):
Chemicals	$	34.0		$	3.0
Component products		3.7			3.4
Waste management		(2.9	)		(10.8	)
Real estate management and development		(.2	)		(5.9	)
Total operating income (loss)		34.6			(10.3	)
General corporate items:
Securities earnings		6.7			6.8
Insurance recoveries		3.1			.1
General expenses, net		(8.2	)		(11.5	)
Interest expense		(14.6	)		(15.7	)
Income (loss) before income taxes	$	21.6		$	(30.6	)