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Texas Instruments Inc., which makes chips used in about half the world’s cell phones, lowered its range of expected profits and sales in the first quarter, citing a key customer’s decision to cut orders.

Company officials on Monday declined to identify the customer, other than to indicate it is a maker of wireless phones.

Two major wireless customers of Texas Instruments - Nokia Corp. (NOK) and Sony Ericsson - both announced last year they would begin ordering some chips from other semiconductor companies instead of relying solely on the Dallas-based company.

Texas Instruments said it expected to earn 41 to 45 cents per share in the quarter ending March 31, 3 cents lower than the midpoint of a January forecast.

Analysts expected 46 cents, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.

Texas Instruments (TXN, Fortune 500) also said sales would total $3.21 billion to $3.35 billion, or about $130 million below the midpoint of the January estimate. Analysts had forecast $3.4 billion.

Back in January, the company said it would earn 43 to 49 cents per share on sales of $3.27 billion to $3.55 billion in the first quarter.

Texas Instruments shares had risen 35 cents, or 1.2%, to $29.65 before the first-quarter update was released after hours.

The shares fell $1.15, or 3.9%, to $28.50 in after-hours trading. That’s close to the low point in the 52-week range of $28 to $39.63.

If the new forecast is accurate, Texas Instruments’ revenue will fall 6% to 10% compared to the fourth quarter but rise 1% to 5% compared to the first quarter a year ago. Earnings would also decline from the fourth quarter but remain above the year-ago profit of 35 cents.

Vice President Ron Slaymaker said the lowered forecast was due to weaker demand from makers of high-end wireless phones, "mostly a particular customer" whose decision was made in the past week or so.

Slaymaker insisted his company is not losing sales to rival chip suppliers but is suffering slowing in demand for advanced wireless phones.

He declined to say whether Texas Instruments expects the slowdown to last beyond March but said the company would provide details next month.

Dallas-based Texas Instruments suffered setbacks last year when Nokia, its largest customer, and Sony Ericsson decided to seek other chip suppliers.

Texas Instruments sells chips for both low-end mobile phones used in emerging markets such as China and India and advanced, feature-laden models more common in developed countries cash advance. The latter are more profitable, although emerging markets offer the potential for heavy sales volumes and trade-up consumers in coming years.

Analysts said Nokia was probably the only customer large enough to cause such a quick downward revision in TI’s revenue forecast.

Cody Acree, an analyst for Stifel Nicolaus & Co., said Nokia "sees the exact same economic uncertainty that we all do. This could definitely be a leading indicator of what’s to come if you want to view it in a more pessimistic light."

Acree said, however, he took hope in Texas Instruments saying that sales in the rest of its wireless division and its big business in analog chips were still running at expected levels.

J. Steven Smigie, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates, estimated that Texas Instruments could have about $22 worth of components in advanced 3G or third-generation phones, making a slowdown in the higher end of the market more damaging.

"I wouldn’t call it catastrophic, but it’s a little disappointing that it’s 3G handsets and not your lower-end phones," he said. "Generally your higher-end customers hold up a little better in tough times."

The company also said Monday that its educational unit, which makes the calculators for which the company was once best known, would generate first-quarter sales of $70 million and $90 million, unchanged from an earlier forecast.

Texas Instruments also makes chips for digital cameras, televisions and other electronics. 

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Autogrill SpA, the Italian operator of restaurants for travelers, on Monday said it bought a U.K.-based duty free business and took full control of a Spanish duty free chain in deals worth more than €1 billion ($1.5 billion).

Autogrill, which is controlled by the apparel-making Benetton family, said the deals made it the leading player in the airport retail market, with the largest presence in Europe and room to grow elsewhere.

Autogrill said it bought World Duty Free, a unit of airport operator BAA, in a transaction valued at £543.5 million ($1.1 billion). BAA, which runs London’s Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead airports, was acquired in 2006 by a group of investors led by Spain’s Grupo Ferrovial SA, which is now selling noncore assets pay day loans.

Autogrill also bought the remaining 50% of Spanish firm Aldeasa from Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, taking full control of the chain of 273 duty free shops, in a transaction valued at €275 million ($424 million).

The purchases will be funded through new debt, said Autogrill, which operates 5,200 restaurants and stores in 42 countries, mostly in airports, highways and railway stations. 

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EADS wants to identify up to two acquisitions in the United States this year, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters as the European aerospace group battles opposition in Congress to a U.S. Air Force deal.

Chief Executive Louis Gallois told staff that one of the group’s top 10 objectives for 2008 was to “propose two acquisition projects in the field of defense, security or services to the board, at least one of which is in the United States.”

The aim is part of a call to action for 2008 distributed days before EADS is expected to unveil annual losses triggered by industrial problems in its European plants and a weak dollar.

In the memo, Gallois makes delivering on EADS’s financial promises and beefing up its industrial performance the group’s No. 1 priorities for 2008, as its Airbus civil planemaker unit reels from costly delays to its A380 superjumbo.

Also high on the list is completing the full or partial sale of half a dozen Airbus factories, opposed by French and German unions, and ensuring A380 output increases sharply as planned.

The goals for 2008 are designed to kick-start a plan called Vision 2020, which aims to reshape Europe’s top aerospace company as a global player over the next 12 years.

“This will be an action year in which we start turning Vision 2020 into reality,” Gallois said in the memo.

The written pep talk was distributed in the past week and its existence was confirmed by two sources who asked not to be named because the list has not been released outside the group payday advance. A spokesman for EADS declined to comment. 

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Boeing Co. on Tuesday ended its silence on its loss of the $40 billion aerial refueling-tanker contract, saying it wanted "an immediate debriefing" from the Air Force on why it gave the job to Northrop Grumman Corp. and its partner, European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co.

The Air Force has said it will debrief both sides "on or after" March 12, a delay that Boeing’s tanker vice president, Mark McGraw, called "unusual." The award was made public Friday.

McGraw requested a quicker discussion with Air Force brass, especially because details of the service’s decision process have begun trickling out in the press.

McGraw also questioned statements that have been made about the relative cost, risks and other factors that apparently went in favor of the Northrop—EADS proposal. EADS, also the parent of Boeing commercial-aircraft competitor Airbus SAS, is based in Paris and Munich.
"It is important for us to understand how the Air Force reached (its) conclusion," McGraw said.

"The questions we are asking, as well as others being raised about this decision, can best be answered with a timely debrief indicating how our proposal was graded against the stated requirements" of the Pentagon’s request for proposals.

These factors would weigh heavily in any protest Boeing might file; it would have to act within 10 days of its briefing quick payday loan. The company is considering a protest, and its congressional supporters and unions want an investigation into the contract award.

Some answers may come today, when the House Appropriations Committee holds a hearing on the contract with top Air Force weapons buyers.

John Young, the Defense Department’s undersecretary for acquisition, said in a statement Tuesday that the "Air Force conducted a very open, fair and detailed competition process with good communication with the bidders." Later in the day, Young told reporters that Boeing could be briefed as early as Thursday.

BLOOMBERG NEWS CONTRIBUTED INFORMATION FOR THIS STORY.

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A divided Supreme Court is leaving intact a ruling favoring people who sued a pharmaceutical company, saying they had been harmed by a drug to combat diabetes.

The dispute stems from several suits against Warner-Lambert over its diabetes drug Rezulin. Warner-Lambert is now owned by Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500). The Supreme Court split 4-4 in the case, with Chief Justice John Roberts not participating.

The users of the drug are relying on a Michigan law to allege that the pharmaceutical company engaged in fraud by misleading federal regulators to get the drug approved. The Michigan law shields pharmaceutical companies from product liability lawsuits, unless they committed fraud.

State vs payday loans. Fed At issue in the case is whether that fraud exception, which allows lawsuits to proceed, is pre-empted by federal regulation of the pharmaceutical industry.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled that the exception to the Michigan law was not pre-empted by federal regulations, enabling the plaintiffs to pursue the case.

Twenty-seven Michigan residents say they suffered personal injuries caused by Rezulin, a drug that federal regulators approved despite risks to the liver and cardiovascular system. 

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European inflation remained last month at the highest level since the euro's debut, keeping pressure on the European Central Bank to leave interest rates on hold even as economic growth cools.

Consumer-price growth in the euro area was 3.2 percent in February, the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg said today. That matched January's rate, the highest since the euro was introduced in 1999, and was in line with the median forecast of 41 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

ECB governing council member Axel Weber said last week investors are “clearly'' underestimating the scale of the threat from inflation after the prices of foods including wheat, soybeans and corn as well as crude oil rose to records. That may keep inflation above the ECB's 2 percent ceiling for a ninth year.

“The ECB will remain worried that the longer that headline inflation stays above 3 percent, the greater the risk will be that this will feed through to have second-round effects,'' said Howard Archer, chief European economist at Global Insight in London. “Nevertheless, the ECB cannot ignore the growing downside risks to euro-zone growth.''

The European Commission on Feb. 21 raised its 2008 inflation forecast to 2.6 percent from 2.1 percent, which would be the fastest full-year average since the euro was introduced. The Brussels-based commission also cut its forecast for economic growth to 1.8 percent, 0.4 percentage point below the pace predicted in November and the weakest since 2005.

Record $1.5239

The euro, which reached at record $1.5239 against the dollar on Feb fast cash. 29, traded today to $1.5163.

The ECB will publish revised growth and inflation forecasts on March 6, when policy makers at the central bank hold their next meeting on interest rates. All 54 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News say the central bank will keep its benchmark rate at 4 percent, where it has been since June.

“Inflation will not slow as markedly as supposed,'' the ECB's Weber said Feb. 27. ECB Executive Board member Juergen Stark said last week that he is “highly dissatisfied'' with the current pace of price increases.

By comparison, the U.S. Federal Reserve has cut the main overnight lending rate between banks five times in the last six months, including an emergency 0.75 percentage-point reduction Jan. 22. The Bank of England lowered its rate for the second time in three months on Feb. 7.

Rate Cuts

Investors have increased their bets on ECB rate cuts this year as the euro's 15 percent appreciation against the dollar over the past 12 months threatens to curb growth.

The implied rate on the Euribor interest-rate futures contract maturing in December dropped 8 basis points, or 0.08 percentage point, to 3.50 percent on Feb. 29. It extended that decline today, slipping to 3.48 percent.

The inflation figure published today is a first estimate by the statistics office, which will publish a final figure on March 14.

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I can’t seem to find the happy medium between doing too much work and not doing enough. Even though I’ve been teaching for 20 years, I spend a million hours on my lesson plans and class materials.

New teachers need to put in long hours because they have so much to learn. But experience makes everything easier, so I should be able to work much more quickly. Yet if I don’t spend all my spare time prepping for class, I feel like a slacker.

I’d like to start preparing for retirement by nurturing the creative side of my personality and finding new activities. How can I stop devoting so much time to my classwork?

You’re being held hostage by your own conscientiousness. Over the years, extreme attention to detail has paid off for you, so now it feels scary to let anything go.
Odds are that all this extra "polishing" no longer adds much value. Does the additional hour of tinkering with an established lesson plan really make it that much better? Probably not.

Over-preparation also may serve an anxiety-reducing function. Constantly revising and reviewing and rehearsing can help you feel more prepared for the unexpected. But after 20 years, how many surprises could there be?

Breaking this habit will require a commitment to self-management. When that nagging inner voice tells you to redo another handout, give yourself permission to say no. Then turn your attention to something else.

To broaden your scope, schedule specific times to explore your artsy inclinations. Put these activities on your calendar, view them as a serious obligation and do not blow them off payday loans. Otherwise, you’ll just keep revising materials until the day you retire.

One of our co-workers doesn’t seem to care about her appearance. "Marcy" is almost 40, overweight and vertically challenged. I’m sure the way she looks will hurt her chances of advancement.

Instead of choosing attractive clothes, Marcy wears whatever she finds on sale. Several of us are just as large, but we select outfits that flatter our figures. People compliment us all the time.

In photos, with her hair and makeup done, Marcy looked wonderful. If she would touch up her face even a little, that would help. Her excuse is that her husband loves her the way she is. How can we help her?

Marcy is happy. Marcy’s husband is happy. And because no job performance problems are mentioned, I assume Marcy’s boss is happy. So perhaps you and your cuter colleagues should continue to bask in your compliments and just let Marcy go her own way.

Because you and Marcy obviously have different priorities, stop viewing her as an improvement project and accept her for who she is. Then maybe you can find something more important to worry about, like world hunger or the melting polar ice caps.

Marie G. McIntyre is a workplace coach. Send questions and get tips at www.yourofficecoach.com.

2008, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

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deal would create America’s largest carrier.