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San Jose-based Adobe Systems Inc. said operating profit jumped a better-than-expected 35% to $45.4 million, or 61 cents a share, in its fiscal first quarter ended Feb. 28, from $33.7 million, or 44 cents, a year ago, as sales rose 17% to $226.5 million. . . . Hewlett-Packard Co. of Palo Alto and software giant Microsoft Corp. are set to announce an expanded alliance today to strengthen customer acceptance of Microsoft’s NT operating system, sources familiar with the plan said. The companies declined to give details. . . . Berkeley-based Xoma Corp. said it agreed to settle a 1992 class-action securities lawsuit for $6 million. The suit claimed that executives of the biotechnology company made misleading statements about the chances that a drug called E-5 would be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. . . . Etec Systems Inc. of Hayward is acquiring Germany’s Ebetech Electron-Beam Technology from Siemens’ Venture Capital Co., MRS Technology Inc. and a group of founding employees, for undisclosed terms. The semiconductor equipment maker said it will take a one-time charge of 15 cents to 20 cents a share in its fiscal third quarter as a result. . . . The Red & White Fleet that ferries tourists around San Francisco Bay is being acquired under a deal arranged to avoid a monopoly. Its rival Blue & Gold Fleet will get seven of its 10 boats for $16.4 million, and Fisherman’s Wharf Cruise Corp., a new entity, will acquire three boats and the fleet’s bay cruise service for nearly $4 million.