Sports Direct sells Dunlop brand

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jan 3, 2017

Sports Direct has sold its sportswear brand Dunlop to Japanese company Sumitomo Rubber Industries for nearly £112m, following a new plan to focus on its core UK business.

The heritage brand is known for its range of sports equipment products including tennis, squash, badminton, golf and fishing, as well as vintage-inspired apparel and footwear. To acquire the rights to the brand and related wholesale and licensing businesses, Sumitomo Rubber Industries paid Sports Direct $137.5m in cash.

The Dunlop business currently operates in the UK, Europe, Asia, USA and Canada. For the year ended 24 April 2016, it had combined revenue of £42.56m.

Sports Direct has recently announced plans to turn the business into the “Selfridges” of sports retail, including a new focus on its core UK businesses and the development of relationships with third party brands.

It said it currently does not have “the bandwidth to develop and manage international brands simultaneously”.

The transaction is expected to complete before the end of May.