Luxury goods giant LVMH says posts 'vintage' year

Shares in French luxury products giant LVMH were little changed on Wednesday, showing only a slight gain despite a 25-percent first-half profit leap.Net profit amounted to 1.3 billion euros ($1.9 billion) and six-month sales rose by 13.0 percent from the equivalent figure last year to exceed 10 billion euros for the first time, the group said in a statement late on Tuesday.Operating profit rose by 23.0 percent to 2.2 billion eurosThe LVMH name owns the brands of Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Moet & Chandon and Dom Perignon champagnes, Parfums Christian Dior and Sephora.

Shares in French luxury fashion group Hermes are a hot item on the stock market because traders see the founding family mounting a bitter takeover defence against giant predator LVMH.Hermes is a chic brand for products ranging from handbags to scarves and perfume while French company LVMH or Louis-Vuitton Moet Hennessy is the world's largest luxury goods group, specialising in wines and spirits, fashion and leather goods, perfumes, watches and jewellery.

By George Jarkesy:Two Luxury Goods MakersWith the recent publicity about the "Occupy Movement" and its highlighting of the income disparity between the 99% and the 1%, I thought investors might be interested in learning about companies doing very well selling to the 1%.

A month ago, when we reported that Abe's reflation effort was "succeeding" if maybe a little too much by sending gasoline prices through the roof, the Nikkei's conclusion was that  "Households are beginning to feel pinched by the weaker Japanese currency." Today they are pinched that much more as we find that the effectiveness of the plunging Yen has just forced luxury titan LVMH to hike prices in Japan by the most ever.

Shares in French leather goods group Hermes soared more than 15 percent Monday on an announcement by luxury retailer LVMH that it had raised its stake in the company, an operation that left analysts questioning the conditions under which it was carried out.Hermes said it learned of the move on Saturday, just an hour before a public announcement by LVMH, the world's leading luxury group, which markets such brands as Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Dom Perignon and Dior.

A French court on Monday ordered online auction site eBay to pay 1.7 million euros (2.5 million dollars) to luxury goods maker LVMH for unauthorised selling of its perfumes, the companies said.Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy administrator Pierre Gode said the court ordered the payment after eBay breached an earlier ruling forbidding it from selling LVMH brand perfumes such as Kenzo, Givenchy, Christian Dior and Guerlain.Gode said that Monday's decision protected its right to choose how its products are sold.