Crikey editor Misha Ketchell writes:

Coles Myer has
rejected yesterday’s prediction in Crikey that the company could make
as little $500 million from the sale of its Myer department store
business to TPG-Newbridge Capital.

We got in touch with Coles
PR this morning to see if they’re sticking with their original net
profit estimate of $600 million – and the answer was a resounding yes.

Myer
spinner Jim Cooper told Crikey today that “by any measure, the sale
price achieved for Myer was beyond expectations and was an outstanding
result” and “with regards to your queries about the profit figures, I
refer you to our ASX announcement
of 2 June. In particular: ‘While detailed financials associated with
the transaction will be released with the annual accounts, current
indications are that Coles Myer’s profit on sale after the impact of
non-cash A-IFRS and tax accounting will be approximately $600 million’.”

The
actual figures won’t be available until Coles Myer’s annual accounts,
but Crikey’s source was confident $500 million is much closer to the
mark. It will be interesting to see who’s right.