In 1986, Meteo Consult B.V, was set up in the Netherlands by Harry Otten, a Dutch TV weather presenter. It was one of the first European private-sector weather businesses. At that time, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute dominated all the Dutch markets and access by private companies to essential meteorological data and models was severely restricted. Meteo Consult lobbied the Government of the Netherlands for fair and equal data access, and for the opening of weather markets to the private sector. As a result, Meteo Consult grew in both the media and B2B markets.
Initial European expansion
In the early 1990s Meteo Consult started expanding outside of the Netherlands and also into marine services. The company began working with a major international energy and petrochemical company to develop an on-board routing system for the shipping market. SPOS, its proprietary weather routing system, is now a market leader and is installed on over 2,000 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 its wholly owned German subsidiary MC-Wetter was established.
Joint venture with PA
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 the German subsidiary of MeteoGroup. In May 2005, a majority shareholding in Meteo Consult B.V was acquired by the PA Group, an international group of news, containing 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, now MeteoGroup UK, combining the meteorological skills of Meteo Consult 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 enabled MeteoGroup to accelerate new market growth.
Rebranding as MeteoGroup
In September 2006, the business was re-branded as MeteoGroup, which brought together all its businesses under a single brand. Meteo Consult has retained its original brand name alongside the strapline 'A MeteoGroup Company'. MeteoGroup España was launched in 2006 with an office in Madrid and, in 2007, MeteoGroup opened new weather operations in Poland and Sweden. A new business was launched in France in April 2009, bringing the number of European MeteoGroup operations to eight.
Launch of US office
2010 marked a key point in MeteoGroup's growth strategy with expansion into the United States and the launch of MeteoGroup USA. In May 2011, MeteoGroup acquired Nowcasting International Limited, an Ireland-based company specialising in technology for offshore weather forecasting. The company now forms part of MeteoGroup Offshore, a dedicated division supplying meteorological and oceanographic products and services to the offshore industry. At the end of 2011, operations in Europe were further strengthened with the set-up of an office in Italy, MeteoGroup Italia. In the summer of 2017, MeteoGroup decided to no longer target US transportation business ending all relationships with their US sales force.
In July 2012, MeteoGroup Singapore was launched, initially focusing on providing weather products and services to the Southeast Asian shipping and offshore markets.
Major European acquisition
In September 2013, MeteoGroup acquired mminternational AG, a major Swiss-German weather company. The acquisition will see MeteoGroup expand its global operations to 14 countries, making it one of the largest weather companies in the world with almost 400 employees and combined annual turnover of more than €50 million.
