(Reuters) - Sports Direct (>> Sports Direct International Plc) is selling its Dunlop brand to Japan's Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) (>> Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd) for $137.5 million as part of a strategy to home in on its core business and develop brand relationships, it said in a statement.

SRI will grant the British sportswear chain a royalty-free licence to continue to use the Dunlop brand for premium workwear and safety wear, it said. The price was in cash, after net debt and working capital on completion.

Sports Direct ended a tough 2016 with a warning that trading was not going to get any easier next year after a slump in first-half profit. [nL5N1E311C]

(Reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary; editing by David Clarke)