In a statement, OneMonday said it had entered into an agreement, conditional on shareholder approval, to sell certain rights relating to the OneMonday trademark to a Swiss company affiliated with PwC.
Shares in the group were trading as high as 34.4p yesterday, but by close of business had fallen back to 32.5p, a 3p increase on the previous close.
PwC is changing the name of its consulting arm to Monday, ahead of an anticipated stock market flotation in August. The name change, widely derided in the press, is reported to cost PwC in the region of $110m over the next two years.
The $5m payment to OneMonday will be welcomed by the group which, with a reliance on technology clients, has been hard hit by the dotcom crash. For the half year ending January 31, OneMonday showed a profit before tax of 拢230,000, down by 79.1% on last year's figure of 拢1.1m.
David Dewhurst, finance director of OneMonday, said the group now had six months to choose a new name. No decision has yet been taken on how to spend the $5m, but Dewhurst said: "We won't be spending it on rebranding, because we can do that ourselves."
Dewhurst added that the group had taken the step as the potential for overlap was considerable.
OneMonday also owns the public affairs shop August.One Communications and Joe Public Relations, the consumer PR agency.
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