MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 27 -- Citing the growing demand for semiconductors, Spectra-Physics reported a 39 percent increase in third quarter net sales at $47.4 million, up from $34.1 million for the same 1999 period. The company's book-to-bill ratio for the third quarter was 1.22, compared with 1.11 for the same quarter last year. For the third quarter of 2000, Spectra-Physics took a one-time pre-tax charge of $1.5 million for purchased in-process research and development related to theacquisition of Laser Analytical Systems GmbH. Not counting this charge, third-quarter net income was $0.3 million, or $0.02 per diluted share. For the same period last year the company took a net loss of $0.2 million, or a loss of $0.01 per diluted share, excluding special pre-tax charges for restructuring and inventory write-offs, a year ago. Continued strong growth in sales and orders across all markets characterized Spectra-Physics' record third quarter, said Patrick L. Edsell, chairman, president and CEO of the company. We expanded our manufacturing capacity for passive telecommunications components, added 100-GHz optical filters to our product line and successfully executed our first shipments of commercial volumes to the dense wavelength division multiplexing device market. We look forward to capitalizing on this momentum, while developing our active components business, over the coming quarters.