Nov 9 (Reuters) - Fragrance maker Inter Parfums Inc (IPAR.O) posted a better-than-expected third-quarter profit, helped by strong sales of the Burberry brand and foreign exchange hedging activities, and raised its full-year 2009 forecast.

Paul Smith Man (Inter Parfums)

For the full-year, the company expects to earn 74 cents a share on sales of $400 million, up from its earlier view of 70 cents a share on sales of $390 million.

Analysts on average were expecting the company to earn 75 cents a share on revenue of $400.5 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For the third quarter, Inter Parfums, whose brands include Burberry, Van Cleef & Arpels and Christian Lacroix, earned $7.3 million, or 24 cents a share, compared with $6.2 million, or 20 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.

Net sales fell 5 percent to $117.5 million as was earlier announced.

Burberry brand sales were up 19 percent in local currency. The company also benefitted from a pre-tax foreign currency gain of $0.9 million for the third quarter, relating to its hedging activities.

Analysts on average were expecting the company to earn 19 cents per share, before items.

Shares of the New York-based company closed at $11.39 Monday 9 November on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Abhishek Takle in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)