ASDA plans to cut the price of leading perfumes from Calvin Klein, Dior, Armani and Yves Saint Laurent by up to 50 percent in the weeks before the February 14 sweethearts day, when more perfume is sold in the UK than at any time outside Christmas.

ASDA said it would vigorously contest any legal moves to end the sale, which risks contravening last July's landmark ruling by the European Union's highest court banning firms from undercutting prices on luxury goods by sourcing merchandise from outside the EU.

``We believe we are selling those perfumes at a fair price,'' ASDA spokesman Nick Agarwal said. ``You have to ask questions about the profits being made by others within the supply chain.''

Agarwal denied this was an ASDA publicity stunt. ``Our shoppers want to buyperfume in our stores and we believe that the brands should let them buy it as and when they want to,'' he said. ``Over the last two years, we've saved our shoppers six million pounds on perfume.''

ASDA said its fragrances were bought on the so-called `grey market', where firms import cut-price goods from overstocked suppliers abroad, rather than from the manufacturers themselves.

Designer manufacturers have refused to sell directly to supermarkets, arguing that their goods should be sold in more upmarket environments. Jeans maker Levis Strauss has begun legal action against Tesco Plc for selling cheaper grey market goods without offering customers a full range or product advice. ASDA refused to confirm the origin of the perfumes in its promotion and called the EU ruling a `grey area'. But a spokeswoman for Calvin Klein, whose CK Be perfume is one of the half-price centrepieces of the ASDA sale, warned, ``Unless the fragrance is bought in an authorisedretailer we can't guarantee either its authenticity orits age.''