<B>Fort James Sees Improved Quarter</b>

Fort James Corp. reported a 19 percent rise in operating profits for the third quarter, narrowly beating Wall Street forecasts, boosted by improved performance in all of its businesses expect European tissue.

The company said earnings, excluding unusual and nonrecurring items, climbed to $131.6 million from $110.2 million a year earlier. 

Net sales for the company climbed 3 percent, to $1.80 billion from $1.74 billion in the 1999 third quarter. Excluding the effects of currency translation and divested operations, net sales increased more than 8 percent.

Sales in the European tissue business slipped to $431.9 million from $452.1 million a year earlier, and income from that unit fell to $27.6 million from $50.8 million. The weakening of European currencies against the dollar reduced sales by about $55 million and cut operating profits by about $6 million compared with the year-ago period, the company said.