Mapfre SA, Spain’s biggest insurer, said first-quarter earnings in Brazil market jumped 31 percent to 151 million euros, while earnings in it’s home market fell 17% as winter storm claims weighed on profit .

Net income fell to 219 million euros ($304 million) from 264.3 million euros in the same period a year earlier, the Madrid-based company said in a filing to regulators today. The shares fell 1.6 percent to 2.99 euros by 11:48 a.m. in Madrid.

Mapfre is betting on developing markets such as Brazil to cushion the impact of profit declines in its Iberian division, which contributes 43 percent of earnings.  While earnings from Brazil jumped 31 percent to 151 million euros, while earnings from southern Latin America, a separate unit, declined 43 percent.

Total premiums rose 1 percent to 5.96 billion euros from 5.9 billion euros a year earlier, Mapfre said, limited by the euro’s strength against major currencies. In constant currency terms, premiums would have risen an annual 10 percent. The euro averaged about $1.37 in the first quarter, up from about $1.32 in the first three months of 2013.

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