Business Segment Information (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2017

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Holding Percentage of Subsidiaries

Business segment	Entity	% controlled at March 31, 2017
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,
		2016			2017
	(unaudited)
Net sales:
Chemicals	$	318.5		$	369.8
Component products		27.1			29.9
Waste management		5.2			21.5
Real estate management and development		2.7			5.7
Total net sales	$	353.5		$	426.9
Cost of sales:
Chemicals	$	278.5		$	266.8
Component products		18.9			20.3
Waste management		11.7			16.7
Real estate management and development		2.4			4.2
Total cost of sales	$	311.5		$	308.0
Gross margin:
Chemicals	$	40.0		$	103.0
Component products		8.2			9.6
Waste management		(6.5	)		4.8
Real estate management and development		.3			1.5
Total gross margin	$	42.0		$	118.9
Operating income (loss):
Chemicals	$	3.0		$	55.0
Component products		3.4			4.5
Waste management		(10.8	)		.6
Real estate management and development		(5.9	)		.6
Total operating income (loss)		(10.3	)		60.7
General corporate items:
Securities earnings		6.8			7.0
Insurance recoveries		.1			.1
General expenses, net		(11.5	)		(12.4	)
Interest expense		(15.7	)		(15.6	)
Income (loss) before income taxes	$	(30.6	)	$	39.8