NATION

NATION
Hertz plans IPO
NEWARK, N.J. -- Less than a year after being taken private, Hertz Global Holdings Inc. is making preparations to go public again. Underwriters set a pricing range Friday for the car-rental company's upcoming initial public offering of 88.2 million shares of 16 to 18 per share.
At the upper end of that price range, the shares being sold would amount to a 27.5 percent stake in the company and the sale would raise nearly 1.59 billion. At 18 a share, the entire company would be worth nearly 5.9 billion.
Hertz operates car rental businesses at about 7,600 locations in 145 countries. Park Ridge, N.J.-based Hertz was bought in December from Ford Motor Co. for 5.6 billion in cash and assumption of 10 billion in debt by a group of private equity companies.
Chevron profit tops 5B
SAN RAMON, Calif. -- Chevron Corp.'s quarterly profit surpassed 5 billion for the first time, putting an exclamation point on the oil industry's latest earnings bonanza.
Topped off by the record results released Friday by Chevron, five of the world's largest oil companies produced a combined net income of 31.6 billion during the three months ended in September.
Volvo plans layoffs
BALTIMORE -- Heavy truck maker AB Volvo said Friday it will lay off 600 workers next year at its Hagerstown engine-and-transmission plant. The Swedish company said the layoffs reflect expectations for an industrywide decline in demand for heavy-duty trucks.
The Hagerstown plant, which employs about 1,770 people, is among the largest employers in the western Maryland city of 38,000. The plant makes parts for Volvo and Mack trucks. The layoffs, expected in the first half of 2007, are Volvo's second announcement of large-scale layoffs in the United States this month.
A week earlier, Volvo said it would lay off 450 workers at its truck assembly plant in Macungie, Pa., cutting the work force there by 40 percent.
Volvo is the world's second-largest truck maker.
Associated Press