Thursday newspaper round-up: Estate agents, Transline, Brexit, Facebook

London estate agents have begun to offer free cars worth £18,000, stamp duty subsidies of £150,000, plus free iPads and Sonos sound systems to kickstart sales in the capital’s increasingly moribund property market. The once super-hot central London market has turned into a “burnt-out core” according to buying agents Garrington Property Finders, prompting developers to offer ever greater incentives to lure buyers. – Guardian

Controversial employment agency Transline has lost its contract with Asos as it tries to fend off insolvency. The company, which provided temporary workers for the online fashion business’s Barnsley warehouse, filed court papers protecting it from creditors last week after being axed as a supplier of warehouse staff for Amazon. – Guardian

Britain and Brussels will both be better off if they stop wrangling over an enormous Brexit divorce bill and instead focus on the real prize - a trade deal to preserve the £600bn of trade which flows back and forth across the Channel each year. Business group the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) wants the negotiators to prioritise jobs and economic growth, and to avoid becoming bogged down in hostile rhetoric at the start of the Brexit talks. – Telegraph

Facebook's profits have hit one billion dollars a month as the social media giant closes in on a milestone of 2bn users. The company showed no sign that recent controversies surrounding illegal content and fake news had had any financial impact last night, as it posted a 76pc rise in first-quarter profits to $3.1bn (£2.3bn). – Telegraph

It was founded in 1765 and for two and a half centuries helped the well-heeled of London to sell their homes. Yesterday Cluttons, one of the oldest estate agents in the world, threw in the towel, sunk by a massive pension fund deficit, and submitted to what appeared to be a rescue takeover. The upmarket estate agent, which fought for business with the likes of Knight Frank and Savills, said that it was beginning a “significant restructuring” with the backing of R Capital, an investment boutique that specialises in turning round struggling companies. – The Times

Live Premiership Rugby matches will be shown on terrestrial television for the first time after Viacom signed a seven-figure deal. The US media group, which owns Channel 5, has won the rights for the domestic contest for four years from this autumn, bringing an end to almost a decade of highlights on ITV. – The Times