THE DAILY BRIEFING

DRIVING DEMAND Car maker Volkswagen delivered 5.2m vehicles in the first half of the year, up 0.8pc from the year before. The firm said strong demand in russia, the Czech republic and Poland helped offset a 2.3pc fall in its home market Germany.

NAME CHANGE Table tennis theme restaurant Bounce has changed its name to Social entertainment Ventures as part of a global expansion plan. DIRECT FLIGHTS The airline run by Thomas Cook is launching a new route from manchester to Seattle in may, with fares from £399 return. NEW POST Former royal mail finance boss matthew lester has been appointed to the board of Barclays as a non-executive director. GAMBLING LOSSES mobile phone gambling game provider Gaming Realms lost £900,000 in the first half. RAIL DEADLINE The competition regulator will decide by September 20 whether FirstGroup can operate the South Western railway franchise between london and exeter. DIRECTOR HIRED Pest control firm Rentokil has hired Sir Crispin Davis, the former boss of analytics company RELX, as a non- executive director. TANZANIA TROUBLE east africa- focused gold producer Shanta Gold is reviewing its operations in the light of new finance laws in Tanzania. STEEL SLUMP russian steel giant Evraz said crude steel production dropped 9.5pc to 3.3m tons in the second quarter, mostly due to repairs at one of its plants. US DEAL Surrey-based TT Electronics is selling its Transport Sensing and Control division to US firm AVX Corporation for £118m. ROBOT CARS Japanese tech giant Softbank, BMW and Toyota have invested in US autonomous car firm Nauto. HEALTH WOE Political uncertainty and ‘volatile’ referrals from the NHS present challenging headwinds to british healthcare firm liberum analysts warned. FERTILITY JOBS Spanish fertility treatment firm IVI is pumping £15m into UK clinics and research that will create 80 jobs in london and the midlands.