Business & Finance

PwC Consulting has changed its name to Monday, further distancing itself from parent company Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, an announcement said. The Bermuda-based firm is readying an initial public offering of as much as $1 billion. It is being spun off amid pressure on accounting industry companies to separate their auditing and consulting practices as a result of the Enron scandal. A senior PwC executive said the new name was chosen to evoke images of "fresh thinking, doughnuts [and] hot coffee" and to galvanize people to "wake up early ... sharpen your pencil ... relish the challenge [and] make an impact."

In a deal valued at almost $7 billion, the energy group Statoil of Norway agreed to provide 10 years' worth of natural gas supplies to Britain's largest distributor, Centrica. The gas is to come exclusively from the North Sea, although Statoil also has holdings in the Caspian Sea, western Africa, and Venezuela. Centrica has a customer base of 13.4 million households.