Newport Buys UK Metrology Company.

Irvine, CA 6/26/00-Newport has signed a letter of intent to acquire International Metrology Systems (IMS), which had $17 million in sales last year. The UK-based IMS supplies coordinate measurement systems and advanced metrology solutions. Newport plans to introduce a full line of enhanced 3-D coordinate metrology products by combining its RAM optical vision metrology products with IMS's contact metrology solutions. Newport stated that the acquisition will make it one of the leading suppliers of multi-modal metrology for industrial applications with a single software solution, and predicted that the next generation of metrology solutions will be fully Computer Aided Design-integrated.

This acquisition will expand potential markets for Newport and will give it an advantage in terms of software technologies. The company's stock value has skyrocketed this year fueled by the runaway growth of the semiconductor industry. This acquisition in the metrology sector is also a clear commitment to that business which had taken a backseat to the fast growing telecommunication and photonics businesses.