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Facts and figures

Income statement

Expenses

Around three quarters of expenses are incurred in relation to the activities of MeteoSwiss itself, namely, the provision of weather and climate services (data collection, information processing, expert services). The remaining quarter relates to transfer expenses and is largely committed (payments to international organisations).

MeteoSwiss's total expenses were around CHF 6.8 million below the budget estimate, at CHF 116.6 million. This budget underspending is primarily due to the following:

  • Expenses with an impact on financing: various projects and plans were delayed in 2018 (e.g. Swiss Automatic Pollen Network, migration to Windows 10). For this reason, requests were made to set aside reserves.
  • Expenses with no impact on financing: depreciation expenses were lower than budgeted, as no replacements were required for critical infrastructure. Moreover, the life cycles of various fixed assets were extended.
  • Transfer expenses: expenses were lower than budgeted mainly due to the fact that around CHF 2.0 million from the Swiss Working Capital Fund (WCF) was used to pay the EUMETSAT 2018 membership fee, as well as to delays replacing the ECMWF's office and data-centre infrastructure.

Revenue

MeteoSwiss generates revenue by providing meteorological services to customers both within and outside the Swiss federal administration, e.g. by preparing weather data for customers requiring information about aviation weather conditions. It also receives third-party funding from research projects.

The revenue is lower than the budgeted figure (and that of the previous year) due to the completion of a large-scale customer project and a reduction in purchases of chargeable data and information.

Income statement in million CHF Account
2017		 Budget
2018		 Account
2018		 Deviation from the budget 2018
absolut		 Deviation from the budget 2018
relative
MeteoSwiss 76.7 86.4 81.9 -4.5 -5.2
Expenditure/expenses 112.3 123.4 116.6 -6.8 -5.5
Functional expenses (overall budget) 86.9 91.3 88.7 -2.6                 -2.8
with an impact on financing 72.6 75.5 73.6 -1.9                  -2.5
with no impact on financing 2.3 3.5 2.7 -0.9                -24.2
internal service charges 12.1 12.3 12.4 0.2                   1.3
of which personnel expenses 51.4 50.6 52.0 1.4                   2.8
with an impact on financing 51.4 50.6 52.0 1.4                   2.8
of which IT 10.1 11.2 10.4 -0.8                  -7.0
with an impact on financing 7.9 8.9 8.3 -0.7                  -7.4
Internal service charges 2.2 2.3 2.2 -0.1                  -5.3
of which consultancy and commissioned research 1.7 1.6 1.8 0.2              12.6
with an impact on financing 1.7 1.6 1.8 0.2                 12.6
of which investments 1.8 4.1 2.7 -1.4                -33.1
with an impact on financing 1.8 4.1 2.7 -1.4                -33.1
Transfer expenses 25.3 32.1 27.9 -4.2                -13.1
with an impact on financing 25.3 32.1 27.9 -4.2                -13.1
Revenue and investment income -35.6 -36.9 -34.7 2.2 -6.0
Functional revenue (overall budget) -35.6 -36.9 -34.7 2.2 -6.0
with an impact on financing -25.6 -26.6 -25.3 1.4                  -5.1
with no impact on financing -0.1 0.0 0.4 0.4   
Internal service charges -9.9 -10.3 -9.8 0.5                    -4.8

Personnel indicators

Staff structure Mother Tongue Education Age structure
Number of employees Number of employees Number of employees Number of employees
Women full-time 29
 German 217 University 194 Under 20 0
Women part-time 78 French 84
 University of applied sciences 20 20 to 29 15
Women total 107 Italian 33 Higher professional education 24 30 to 39 74
Men full-time 150 Romanic 0
 Federal Baccalaureate 16 40 to 49 106
Men part-time 88 English 3 Vocational education 91 50 to 59 127
Men total 238 Other 8 No vocational education 0 60 to 65 23
Fixed-term 53     Apprentices 7
    
Unlimited 309            
Total number of employees 345            

Contributions to international organisations in million CHF

Contributions to international organisations in million CHF  
  2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
WMO 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.6 2.0 2.2 2.2 1.9 2.0 1.9 2.6 2.7 2.5
EUMETSAT 10.3 10.3 9.0 7.9 8.9 10.1 9.8 8.4 7.9 8.5 14.3 15.6 18.8 21.4
WRC 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.5 1.5
ECMWF 1.9 1.9 2.2 2.0 1.7 1.8 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.7 2.2 2.2 2.0 2.2
European Cooperation
(EUMETNET, ECOMET)		 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3
Total 15.0 15.0 14.0 13.0 13.8 15.5 15.2 13.8 13.1 13.9 20.1 22.1 25.3 27.9
WMO World Meteorological Organization (Genf, CH)
EUMETSAT European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (Darmstadt, DE)
WRC World Radiation Center (Davos, CH)
EZMW Europäisches Zentrum für mittelfristige Wettervorhersage (Reading, GB)
EUMETNET Netzwerk europäischer Wetterdienste (Brüssel, BE)
ECOMET European Cooperation in Meteorology (Brüssel, BE)

Expenditure credit outside the overall budget refers to mandatory contributions made by Switzerland to international organisations and institutions in accordance with Switzerland's obligations under international law.

Cost and service accounting

At 39.2%, the revenue-to-cost ratio for the project groups (including customer and third-party-funded projects) is slightly under the budgeted ratio of 40.4%.

Cost and performance accounting in million CHF
  Account 2017
 Budget 2018
 Account 2018
  Earnings Expenses Earnings Expenses Earnings Expenses
Weather and climate data (PG 1) 17.1
 29.6 19.2 31.4 15.9 30.2
Weather and climate related information and expert services (PG 2) 18.5 57.4 17.7 59.9 18.9 58.5
Total 365.6 87.0 36.9 91.3
 34.8 88.7
Revenue to cost ratio   40.9%   40.4%   39.2%

BAZL veröffentlicht Bericht über die Prüfung der Flugwetterkosten der MeteoSchweiz

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Last modified 11.10.2019