As a consequence, LVMH has sought to reposition the Louis Vuitton brand by limiting the sale of lower-priced accessories like wallets and canvas handbags and focusing instead on higher-priced leather handbags as well as limited-edition items. It has also reduced the number of products bearing the house’s 120-year-old brown-and-gold “LV” monogram, which has fallen out of favor with luxury consumers seeking subtler, more exclusive markers of status and wealth.

At the fore of this makeover is Nicolas Ghesquière, who joined Louis Vuitton in 2013 as artistic director for women’s wear after 15 years at Balenciaga. Among Mr. Ghesquière’s 2014 hits was a new handbag that harkened to Vuitton’s heritage as a luggage maker. The Petite Malle — a boxy, $5,200 clutch shaped like a miniature travel trunk — proved an instant favorite with the red-carpet set and was spotted on the arms of stars like Jennifer Connelly, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Michelle Williams.

Vuitton also sought to inject the brand with some fresh buzz through the introduction in October of a limited edition of accessories incorporating its classic monogram, but created by a series of guest that included the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Louboutin and even Frank Gehry, the architect who designed the new Fondation Louis Vuitton museum in Paris.

“It is a way to market the brand as something very near to contemporary art,” Claudia d’Arpizio, a specialist in the luxury industry at Bain & Company in Milan, said in a recent interview, referring to the Vuitton capsule collection. “They are trying to increase the perception and the value of their products, not only from a functional or intrinsic material standpoint, but from an artistic standpoint.”

Performance was strongest in the United States and Japan, where sales increased 8 percent over the previous year — a trend that accelerated in the fourth quarter of the year thanks to a weakening of the euro. In the rest of Asia, which is dominated by China, revenues fell by 1 percent, while European sales increased by 3 percent, the company said.

LVMH’s net profit was bolstered by a €2.8 billion capital gain in December from the distribution of its 23 percent stake in Hermès, a rival French luxury house, to the group’s shareholders. The disposal of that holding was part of a court-ordered settlement of a four-year dispute with Hermès, after LVMH secretly built up a large minority holding in the family-controlled company, which makes goods including handcrafted Birkin and Kelly purses and colorful silk scarves. The civil settlement followed an €8 million fine in 2013 for violation of French market rules.

Under the terms of the deal with Hermès, which was announced in September, Mr. Arnault, France’s richest man, was allowed to maintain with a residual stake in Hermès of 8.5 percent for his personal account, an investment currently valued at €2.6 billion.

The proceeds from the Hermès share sale helped to bolster LVMH’s already substantial cash stockpile. Analysts expect the company to eventually deploy those funds toward further acquisitions or reinvest them into some of its smaller fashion brands like Berluti, Kenzo, Donna Karan and Loewe.