From wire reports

P&G expands plant in Thailand

Procter & Gamble Co. plans to spend 350 million baht (about $9 million) to expand its shampoo and skin lotion plant in Thailand after overseas sales surged.

Production of Pantene shampoo and Oil of Olay lotion will be expanded at the plant in Chachoengsao, Jeffery Hansberry, managing director of P&G (Thailand) Ltd., said in Bangkok.

Thailand is one of P&G's largest manufacturing centers for liquid products, selling to about 26 countries. Overseas sales from the Thai plant in the first quarter rose 56 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, Hansberry said.

Roadway warns of lower earnings

The stock of Akron, Ohio-based Roadway Corp. led the trucking sector lower Thursday after the freight-hauling company warned that second-quarter earnings would be half of what it had expected.

Shares of Roadway closed at $31.16, down $6.58, or 17 percent, on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

The truckload carrier said it expects to earn 33 cents a share for the quarter ending this month, 50 percent below the low end of its previous estimate.

Roadway cited tough price competition. Freight volume has also been lower than expected.

Shares of other freight haulers on the Nasdaq closed lower. Fort Smith, Ark.-based Arkansas Best Corp. finished at $25.12, down $2.04. Jacksonville, Fla.-based Landstar System Inc. settled at $63.56, down $1.74. Kansas City, Mo-based SCS Transportation Inc. closed at $12, down 54 cents.

Ohio Hoover plant to have layoffs

Hoover Co. will lay off about 350 production workers in North Canton, Ohio, largely because of a slump in consumer demand.

The move was not unexpected, said Jim Repace, president of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1985, which represents about 1,800 production workers at Hoover.

Ralph Hake, chairman and CEO of Maytag, which owns Hoover, said in April that the company's sales volume declined sharply.

Vacuum sales were down more than 7 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to the Vacuum Cleaner Manufacturers Association.