It's 10 months later but Y2K is still wreaking havoc on Coles Myer's bottom line.

The retail giant recently reported towering abnormal losses for the 1999-2000 financial year, with Y2K compliance, the GST and Web-related restructuring costs singled out as the major causes for expense.

Abnormals for the year totalled more than AU$260 million, representing an increase of more than four times that of the previous year, when the retailer reported abnormals of just AU$58 million - all attributed to Y2K.

This year, the retailer said it spent a further AU$9.2 million on compliance costs related to the millenium bug.

The retailer also spent AU$138.5 million on GST compliance, a non-existant expense the year before.

Coles Myer said in a statement that expenses related to GST compliance were "extensive and above planned levels, due to onerous regulatory and logistical issues associated with its (GST) introduction".

The company reported a spend of AU$24.9 million on restructuring its Direct Fulfilment Group to become Internet-enabled. That restructuring was centred around transforming the Myer Direct catalogue into an e-tail operation, Coles Myer said.

Other expenditure, related to the closure of underperforming business divisions, accounted for an additional AU$87.6 million in abnormals.

Coles Myer did not return ZDNet's calls for further comment by publishing time.