The ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) is getting back into the swing of things after Christmas. Here are four stories you may have missed that affected businesses in the ASX 200 index:
Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME)
Pro Medicus announced this week that it had signed a 5-year platform deal with Nines for future radiology services.
It's going to be a transactional based model with the potential for "significant upside". Base revenue to Pro Medicus will be in excess of AU$6 million.
The offering will be based on Visage 7 technology and will be hosted on the Google Cloud platform.
REA Group Limited (ASX: REA)
This week REA Group, the owner of the leading property website realestate.com.au, received a sizeable boost after the news from CoreLogic about the latest house price movements in December 2019.
Nationally, Australian dwelling prices increased by 1.1% over the month. Sydney and Melbourne prices rose by 1.7% and 1.4% in December, Brisbane and Adelaide prices increased 0.7% and 0.5% respectively. There was little change in Perth, Hobart and Canberra while Darwin house prices fell 0.5%.
Higher prices are likely to mean that REA Group can charge higher fees for advertising plus it's possible that volumes will rise.
Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: CGC)
We learned from an announcement from Vitalharvest Freehold Trust (ASX: VTH) that the bushfires had affected the Tumbarumba berry property.
Fires have damaged the packing shed, although it is understood that the plants have not been materially impacted. Assets owned by Costa have been damaged including the packing equipment and several vehicles. A full site evacuation had been done before the impact of the fire front thankfully.
Access to the property was limited at the time of the announcement, so a full damage assessment can't be completed until it's safe again.
In terms of scale, this farm only accounts for around 6% of Vitalharvest's berry plantings.
Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG)
IAG gave an insurance update this week. It has finalised its catastrophe reinsurance program for the 2020 calendar year, increasing its gross reinsurance protection to up to $10 billion, up from $9 billion.
The insurance giant also gave an update about the net natural peril claim costs, including the bushfire events. As at 2 January 2020 it had received 2,800 bushfire claims since September 2019. IAG expects overall bushfire events to contribute over $160 million of net claim costs in the first half of FY20, post-quota share.
Based on initial estimates, IAG anticipates its net natural peril claim costs for the first half of FY20 will be approximately $400 million post-quota share which included hailstorms in November 2019 on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland and at Timaru in New Zealand.
