Europe's largest private-sector weather business

MeteoGroup proves importance of the weather business

London: 9 June 2009

The UK Telegraph Newspaper published an article titled: MeteoGroup proves importance of the weather business - Europe's largest private-sector weather business shows that it's the right climate for growth. The article states:

“Jennie Campbell, chief executive of MeteoGroup, which is 90pc owned by the Press Association Group and claims to be Europe's largest private-sector weather business, is familiar with such arithmetic, although the company now obtains only 27pc of its £18m turnover from media forecasting.

What has driven 10pc annual growth in recent years, she says, has been the corporate sector, where MeteoGroup’s 100 meteorologists and 130 support staff provide forecasts for the marine, power and rail industries and local authorities.

She says a container ship captain saved two days and 48 tons of fuel oil as a result of having MeteoGroup’s ship-routing tool on board a trip from Texas to Germany.

Similarly, accurate winter road forecasting can save local authorities thousands of pounds in unnecessary gritting, Ms Campbell argues.

The sector is dominated by publicly owned operations such as Britain’s Met Office. However, while MeteoGroup already has operations in eight countries, Ms Campbell sees great potential for growth in Europe.”

The MeteoGroup is part of Press Association, which in turn is owned by PA Group Ltd a registered UK company.

The UK Guardian newspaper published an article on the 21 May 2009 titled: PA Group suffers £8m loss – but revenue and operating profits up. The article states:

“MeteoGroup, the European weather service PA Group acquired in 2005, was the largest single contributor to operating profits, with its own revenue increasing 27% to £18.2m, the company said.”

The MeteoGroup has operating subsidiaries’ in Europe in the following Member States:

Belgium
France
Germany, Austria & Switzerland
Netherlands
Poland
Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland)
Spain
UK & Ireland

The MeteoGroup is a member of the pan European Association PRIMET the Association of Private Meteorological Services The Managing Director of MeteoGroup Jennifer Campbell is a Board member of PRIMET

PRIMET is a member of the pan European PSI Alliance