History

The origins of MeteoGroup date back to 1986 when one of the first European private sector weather businesses, Meteo Consult B.V, was set-up in the Netherlands by Harry Otten, a leading Dutch TV weather presenter. Harry remains a key figure in the business today as Founder and President

The early days were a challenge for private sector weather businesses in Europe as the National Met Offices dominated all markets and access to essential meteorological data and models was severely restricted.

However, Meteo Consult lobbied hard for fair and equal data access and to open up markets to the private sector. As a result the business in the Netherlands grew, in both the media and b2b markets

In the early nineties Meteo Consult started to look outside the Netherlands to expand into marine services, effectively lobbying government to enable the private sector to provide services to the offshore industry, and working with Shell Research to develop an on-board routing system for the shipping market. SPOS, our weather routing system, is now a market leader, installed on over 700 vessels worldwide.

In 1993 Meteo Consult set up its first business outside the Netherlands when a joint venture for the German market was established in Berlin. In 1998 the joint venture came to an end and our wholly-owned German subsidiary – MC-Wetter. was established.

Further European expansion quickly followed - in 1996 Meteo Consult became a majority shareholder in Meteo Services in Belgium and in 1997 a joint venture was established with the Press Association in the UK – PA WeatherCentre.

In 1998 Meteo Consult acquired a majority shareholding in MeteoGraphics, a graphics business specialising in visualising weather. Also based in Berlin, MeteoGraphics works closely with MC-Wetter.

In 2001 MeteoConsult became a minority shareholder in MeteoTemp in Madrid. Soon after this the shareholding was increased to 100% and MeteoTemp became MeteoGroup, Espana, our Spanish subsidiary.  

Also in 2001, a minority shareholding was acquired in Weather Ventures in the USA, a business focussing on seasonal forecasting.

In May 2005, a majority shareholding in Meteo Consult B.V was acquired by the PA Group, an international group of news, information and communications businesses which include The Press Association, the national news agency of the UK and Ireland.

The Press Association and Meteo Consult had worked together since 1997 in a successful joint venture in the UK, PA WeatherCentre Ltd. Combining the meteorological skills of MeteoConsult with the packaging and delivery skills of The Press Association.

This acquisition further broadened PA Group’s portfolio of diversified information services for international markets and, with PA Group’s backing, We are focused on accelerating our growth into new markets.

Finally, earlier this year, the business was re-branded as MeteoGroup, bringing together all our businesses under a single brand, emphasising the scale and scope of our activities, not just in Europe, but worldwide.