Good morning, and thank you for being with us today. This is our earnings results. We need to apologize because we are three minutes late. That was an unfortunate technical glitch, but here we are. Let's talk about our third quarter of the year. As always, with me, the Vice President, José Manuel Inchausti, the Chief Financial Officer, José Luis Jiménez. We're going to present our information, and then we'll have time for questions. José Manuel?
Good morning, and thank you. I'm going to basically go over the results, and José Luis Jiménez will then delve into the specifics of our main numbers, our more important numbers.
As you know, this is financial information which we present in June and December, and I have, but we are always transparent, and we provide quarterly updates in accordance with local accounting practices, which is applicable in most of the countries where we run our business. This is what we published. Before we dive into the numbers, let's again remember the persons who were so hard hit by the flash floods last year. This is our first anniversary. MAPFRE has been very much there as of the first minute. We have been there on site. We've been helping customers, non-customers. We've been helping in general to deal with the tragedy. Doubtless, this is one of the most horrible events we've had to participate in.
The number of lives lost, the numbers of victims affected, the terrible wave of destruction that swept over the territory, and which unfortunately continues to be evident. As you know, part of the recovery is thanks to the solidarity of the sum total of insured parties: EUR 3.760 billion, which have been paid out. Via the consortium. The funds of the consortium are achieved thanks to a small additional amount, which all insured parties pay in their policies. This is very special. We are unique in the world, and it is very telling that in the case of major catastrophes, such as the one that we overcame one year back on the Spanish coast, we have collaborated with the consortium. We have co-managed thousands of events. Our customers were protected by the umbrella of the consortium. MAPFRE España has also dealt with 20,000-plus proprietary events. A sum total of EUR 31.4 million.
Our support, again, and the solidarity, again, with all of the victims of the DANA. The results now for the first nine months of the year. If we look at the macro context, the global economy advances towards a stage of less dynamism. Tension, fragmentation, tax issues, a reconfiguration of value chains around the reality of geopolitics. We continue to see geopolitical tension, I repeat, which slows down growth and which unevenly affects the different economies and their currencies. In our case, apart from a depreciation of the dollar to the tune of well-nigh 12% and a lesser impact on most Latin American markets, this explains a worse performance, if you will, vis-à-vis the growth of our business premium-wise. This quarter, we have not seen any extraordinary event, no major impact on the business, which represents a booster, especially in reinsurance. Let's dive into the numbers.
Our business model is very diversified in geographical terms and in product terms. Again, this quarter, we have progressed. It's strong. The results are good. We're better in terms of profitability in all of the regions and in the leading units or lines of business. We have a profit of EUR 829 million, which is 27% more than for the past nine months of the previous year. Our business model, therefore, is robust from EUR 908 million. We have decided to tackle activities very prudently. Why? Because we want to strengthen our future business activities. We see extraordinary impacts: EUR 79 million from the partial adjustment of Mexico goodwill and deferred in Italy and in Germany. Our premiums have been hard hit by the performance of some currencies, growing by 3.5%. Without that effect, it would have been well-nigh 8%.
Our ROE continues to be strong and is now in excess of 12%, which is the same for the combined ratio, which is seeing an improvement of over two points and is now at 93%. We continue to grow our profitability in all of the regions. LATAM, Iberia, and North America are good. EMEA is not there, but it also contributes in a positive way to our numbers. MAPFRE Re, which includes reinsurance and global risk, generates a result of EUR 256 million, which is 24% more. All of this allows us to once again hike our dividend to EUR 0.07 gross per share. We will be providing additional details in a few minutes' time. José Luis is going to go into the specifics. José Luis, you have the floor.
Thank you, José Manuel. I think that now we can look at the specifics. Premiums growing by 3.5%.
Without the FX event, it would have been more than twice. Let me underscore the major growth in life, 9.7%, and practically 2% in non-life. By business lines, our best performance is Life savings. We see reasonable growth in other parts of the activity. General insurance, conditioned, of course, by the evolution of FX in some markets and the evolution of credits in Brazil. I'll be talking about that in a few minutes' time. By regions and units, this is our evolution in each one of the same. Iberia, as José Manuel Inchausti says, we grow in a telling way in terms of premiums and especially in terms of earnings.
In LATAM, we continue to do better in terms of profitability, but this region is hard hit by the contraction, which is due to the very high rates, which are slowing down decisions to consume and to buy, and which, in our case, as we've said on previous occasions, is making it a little bit difficult to sign farm insurance, which is very important for us, a very important business line in Brazil. In upcoming quarters, we will see interest rates in a variation, which will doubtless boost that economy. North America continues to see better indicators. In EMEA, we continue to tweak our auto insurance in Italy and Germany. The combined ratios are negative but improving. Nevertheless, the region continues to be profitable.
Good performance from MAPFRE Re side, notable growth in reinsurance and global risk, as you can see, which grow by 26% and 10%, respectively, and also in MADI, our assistance business line. What we see here is very, very quickly our position with regards to the investments and our assets. Our portfolio is growing by nearly 4%, and assets under management are now EUR 47,420 million. Our structure has not suffered, as we see this year, and for the most part, fixed income over 83% of the sum total. I would like to underscore that, as happened on previous occasions, our assets off balance continue to do nicely, especially investment funds, which grow by 25%. This is basically because of the excellent performance of Brazil and Spain. As we've mentioned before, these are combined ratios by business line and by unit.
We pointed out that there has been a reduction to 92.6% of a combined ratio, which is very satisfactory, which reflects the solid nature of our business. In EMEA, we continue to have difficulties. The ratio is doing better, but not as quickly as we would like to see. On the other hand, we have an excellent combined ratio in Brazil and a very good one in other regions and units. When we talk about the strength of a solid, diversified business model, we're talking about these kinds of situations also where our global presence allows us to continue to be a profitable group. On the right-hand side, you will see the most recent solvency ratio, which is there as established by MAPFRE. Finally, let me just make a reference to our share. We always do when we talk about earnings.
As you can observe, the evolution has been very positive. We see new historical maximum numbers. We see that our share price is in excess of EUR 4 per share until September 30. The number was over 65%. That's practically twice IBEX-certified market cap and three times the stocks insurance index. Thank you to our shareholders. Thank you for the trust you place in us. Because we are committed to our shareholders, we grow our interim dividend to EUR 0.07 per share. We will pay this out on November 28th. This is the fourth consecutive hike. The record amount this year will be in excess of EUR 500 million for the first time ever in our history. I look forward to your questions, but I give the floor to José Manuel, who will take them.
Thank you, José Luis. To conclude then, this quarter again sees us achieving solid growing results.
Our benefits growing by 27%, EUR 129 million, 26.8% increase. More profitable. Our ROE is in excess of 13.3%, and the combined ratio is 92.6%, which is an improvement to the tune of 2.5%. All of this gives us leeway, so we will continue to increase our payout to our shareholders. In a nutshell, these excellent results that we've achieved in the past nine months, the first nine months of the year, reflect our very strong model. We can adapt in a changing environment, and we are, of course, committed to profitability, solvency, and service provided to our clients. We're optimistic but prudent, and we believe that 2025 will be another record-breaking year for us. Thank you. Thank you. I think it's time for questions now. We have a number of questions. Our first question is from Rafael Sierra from Seguros News.
You ask, "For some time now, you've been implementing AI in your activities. Could you give us specifics about how it impacts the business?" Thank you, Rafael. Yes, indeed. For some years now, we've been working with AI, traditional analytics, and more modern AI. Gen AI specifically. We have 121 use cases deployed in a number of countries. We are improving the customer experience. We are also improving the efficiency of our transactions, which means that, yes, we've deployed in practically the totality of the business's value chain. Let's talk numbers. In Spain, over 6 million customers have interacted, have benefited, if you will, from some kind of an interaction with any one of the various AI systems we have in place, and we have carried out some 20 million transactions.
Every use case, every time we deploy AI in MAPFRE, mandatorily calls for measurement, and we know that it is millions that AI has contributed to MAPFRE. Just by way of a reminder, MAPFRE was the first company on the IBEX that actually wrote a manifesto, an AI manifesto. We committed back in the day to develop an artificial intelligence that was human-like for people and within very clear ethical guidelines. Thank you. Julio Mañuz from Capital Madrid has a number of questions for us. Could you talk about the effects of FX on the accounts in view of the dollar and the Brazilian realities? Let me answer by saying that, yes, the past few years have been tremendously volatile, especially after Mr. Trump spoke out. The dollar has depreciated to a very great degree, and this has had an impact on most of Latin America's currencies.
We'll talk about that. We'll talk about interest rates. We'll talk about what is happening in these countries. I would underscore the fact that MAPFRE, as we heard, is really evolving in all of the business lines and in all of the regions. The group is doing very well. It's full steam ahead. It's true that FX has had an effect. It's also true that insofar as we can begin to see a stabilization, we probably will be seeing next year a reduction in rates in some Latin American countries. We think that this is an opportunity for future growth. Lesser interest rates speak for more investment and more consumer activities. All of the insurances that are linked to these activities are probably going to blossom.
This year, what we see is financial revenues, thanks to those investments where many of these countries, and Brazil definitely is a very good example, with that SELIC at 15%. The portfolio has improved notably. We would like to have fixed income profits to the tune of 15% in other markets, but we're going to be seeing things settling down next year. Our activities in 2025 headwinds may become tailwinds next time around. Another question about Brazil. Are you concerned in view of upcoming elections? Let me take this question. Brazil is an extraordinary country, extraordinary. We have put our resources there. It has grown brilliantly recently. It is a democracy. It is a stable country. The fact that the population speaks when election time comes around is definitely not a source of concern for us.
We will continue to work with the administration, whoever may win the elections, which is exactly what we've done ever since we have a presence in the country. Thank you. A question from Julio now. Could you tell me whether you're going to continue to have a low PER now that we're seeing a dilution of? Yes, José Luis? Having that PER objective, that's not a key indicator if you think about management, because the price-earnings ratio at the end of the day is a relationship between the price and the earnings. A low PER is usually interpreted as meaning that the share price is affordable or that it's going to be more profitable in a short window of time. We think that at this point in time, we're strong. We think that it is spot on.
If we continue to evolve and all of the business units, all of the business lines continue to be profitable, will this indicator continue to oscillate? Finally, Julio wants to know. It seems that you're going to be the only listed insurance company in the Spanish market. What is your opinion? Is this going to be good for share price purposes in upcoming quarters? Thank you for that. I think it's true that right now there are in Spain two insurance companies. We'd love to have more competition. We think also it's a very good moment for the insurance sector. It's also good for the banking sector. As we know, we tend to be very stable. We have investment portfolios that basically look at fixed income. We're looking at the long term. This is going to guarantee a certain degree of stability with regards to financial revenues.
This is just a mathematical conclusion. Insofar as there are fewer listed companies, it makes sense that there be more flow towards the companies that continue to exist. David Leonor from BBSCNS wants to ask about the business in Iberia. It has grown in life, but in non-life, it's grown less than the sector average. How would you explain that? Thank you, David, for that question. The combined ratio of Iberia specifically is at 95.9%, and it's gone down by 2.5 points, which is definitely a very positive number. This is compatible with Non-Life growth in Spain to the tune of about 5%, which is growth also to be defined as reasonable. We're seeing conversion rates of our business, especially the main business lines, auto and Homeowner insurance. This allows our networks to continue to sell normally. Our strategy is a profitable growth one. I insist the results are positive.
That was the main objective. We believe that that strategy is the one that's going to guarantee best results in the mid and long terms. Thank you. Aitor Caballero from El Economista wants to know, so far to date, you've stabilized that combined ratio to the tune of 98%. Are you going to continue to try to shrink it, or do you think you're going to be able to compete with the rest of the market? My answer is that I think that there's leeway for improvement in that combined ratio. We like to have combined ratios that are a little bit dampened in order to improve the competitive nature of our activity. This is compatible with competing on the market. That's what we do every single day, and that's what we plan to continue to do. There's another question, I think. Yes, there's a question about FX.
Is that affecting you with regards to your business volume in LATAM and the U.S.? Profits are growing. What are you doing, and how much is this related to the hike in tariffs? As we said when we talked about FX, it's true that many Latin American countries see growth in local currency, but when we actually look at the euro, the euro is a currency which is very tellingly appreciated. Growth goes from positive to negative. It's usually cyclical, though. Last year, we said we're looking at a certain return to averages. Quality of service and the product is important. Over the coming three quarters, we will see probably how this continues. Manuel Chicotte asks, could you talk about the litigation with Oliver Wyman and Kaiser Bank? Thank you, Manuel. As you know, we never talk about the specifics about any possible litigation underway.
I can assure you that MAPFRE, however, did not agree with Oliver Wyman's assessment of our banking business. That's a process which is currently underway, and we will be seeing news in upcoming months. As you can imagine, we are convinced that Oliver Wyman's initial assessment can be improved upon. Yes, and there's a question about the growth of life savings in Iberia. Miguel Moreno from El País Cinco Días. Yes, life savings, I have to say that we have great hopes there. We want to be market leaders in Spain of financial planning activities. We have a fantastic team. We have 3,000 BIFID qualified professionals.
I have to say that this is a very good point in time for us because we see that our competitors, especially in the banking sector, deposits are not offering the kind of profits because of that stabilization of interest rates, whereas we continue to provide saving solutions in the short, in the mid, and in the long term for our customers. We provide peace of mind, and we provide profitability in the short and long term. Insurances that are linked to savings, investment funds, pension plans, we continue to work in order to ensure that we achieve that leadership position in the arena of financial planning. Manuel Chicotte says Iberia continues to be the main contributor to the group's success. Is this going to be the same at the end of the year? It's difficult to make any kind of a forecast.
Iberia won EUR 347 million, 22.5% increase, and LATAM has earned EUR 340 million, and it's 11.3% of an increase. I think that it's going to be a little bit of a photo finish. In any case, what is excellent is that both regions are contributing in an extraordinary manner to the group's bottom line. These are the two regions where MAPFRE has a strong foothold. Thank you. We have no further questions. Thank you, gentlemen, and thanks to all your good sales for being with us. As always, we are available should you have questions throughout the afternoon or over the upcoming two days. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, and we hope to see you next time around. Thank you and good day.