Hello again, and welcome to this webcast. I'm Kostas Sarmadakis, Kri-Kri CFO. In this session, we will discuss in detail our performance in the first half of two thousand and twenty-four, and I will give you an update on the business for the current year. After a short presentation, Q&A will follow. You can post your questions using the chat tool. Now, let's have a first look at our P&L statement. Sales saw an increase of 15.8%, exceeding EUR 130.8 million . Overall, this 15.8% of total sales value increase, 19.3% is attributed to higher selling quantities, and -3.5% is attributed to lower selling price. Gross profit margin reached 34.6%. This is about four percentage points lower than that of two thousand and twenty-three.
EBIT was EUR 26.9 million, with a margin of 20.7%. Finally, EBITA stood at EUR 29.4 million, with a margin of 22.5%. It should be noted that profit after tax had a benefit of EUR 5.3 million that relates to a tax relief asset state subsidy for completed CapEx projects. This explains the low effective tax rate of the current period. Moving on, you can see the sales bridge. As I said before, sales saw an increase of 15.8%, exceeding EUR 130 million . As per segment, this is analyzed as follow: Total ice cream sales increased by EUR 4.9 million or by % year-on-year. EUR 3.9 million extra sales came from higher volumes.
That is 16.5% and 105% higher price level. In ice cream, during the current period, we had a hit with a steep rise of price of cocoa and chocolate. So this increased cost, we have passed it on selling prices. On the other hand, total yogurt sales saw an increase of EUR 12.8 million , or by 19.7%. Increased volumes contribute for EUR 17.7 million , but lower price level trimmed sales by 4.9 million. That is on average, 5% lower price level. On the next page, you can see the gross profit bridge. Starting at the gross profit of the first half 2023, there was an increase of EUR 8 million coming from increased sales quantities.
On the other hand, the lower price level drives gross profit down by EUR 3.9 million . Raw materials price level was substantially stable, and production expenses effect was immaterial. Therefore, the gross profit for the first half 2024 went to EUR 45.2 million EUR. The current gross profit margin is 34.6%, and that is two percentage points lower than that of 2023. On the next page, you can see the EBIT bridge. Starting at the EBIT of the first half 2023, increased gross profit adds EUR 3.9 million . Increased OPEX, on the other hand, reduced EBIT by EUR 3.3 million , leading to a final EBIT figure of EUR 26.9 million .
The current EBIT margin is 20.6%, and that is 2.7 % points lower than that of 2023. Although gross margin is 2% points lower, the EBIT margin dropped further. This further erosion in the EBIT margin of 0.7% points is attributed mostly to increased transportation costs, and it is explained because of the change in sales mix. For example, U.K. sales, one of our most distant export destinations, have increased by 42%, and this drives higher the average transport cost per pallet. Moving on to segment review, yogurt export sales show a strong double-digit growth of 27.8%, exceeding EUR 63.5 million. It is worth mentioning that yogurt export sales make up 62.8% of total yogurt sales.
Also, there's a strong boost in our sales, contributed by the major markets of U.K. and Italy, as well as from our entrance in new markets such as France. Recently, in March, we launched high-protein yogurts in France as it was scheduled. The initial indications are that sales will be above our budget. Moving on, in the domestic market, yogurt sales exceeded EUR 37.8 million, decreased by 2.4% in value, but increased by 4.8% in volume. In the current inflationary environment, we kept our prices at a low competitive level, but that had a negative impact on the value of our sales, and at the same time, it adds pressure on our profit margins. As far as the market condition is concerned, the strong shift of consumers to private label yogurt continues because of their choices for value for many products.
As a result, private label yogurt market share increased by 1.4 percentage points in volume, applying pressure on branded yogurts. That pressure has led Kri-Kri branded yogurts to a market share loss of 1 percentage point in volume, reaching 15.4% of market share and establishing our position as second supplier in the market. In general, Kri-Kri seems to benefit from those market developments since we are the largest supplier of private label yogurts in the domestic market. In the ice cream segment, in the domestic market, our sales saw a strong double-digit increase of 21.7%. The favorable weather conditions for the ice cream sales during the first months of summer, May and June, the expansion of our sales network and our products portfolio, combined with the increased inflow of tourists in Greece, resulted in this double-digit growth.
For the remaining of the season, however, and because mostly of very hard comparatives last year of July, ice cream sales growth has slowed down. Our ice cream market share increased only marginally in value. For this segment, a big bet for us is the launch of Greek frozen yogurt series in USA. At the beginning of September, we have launched it in Texas with six different flavors in a variety of packages. This is an important milestone for us as it opens a large and promising market. Let me now move on to our updated estimates for 2024. Although the comparatives of 2023 are very tough, we believe that we can show a good performance in this year also.
We have based our initial guidance on assumptions of more pressure of competition that will be pushing prices further down. This now seems that we have avoided it. Therefore, we restate our guidance with increased sales of EUR 245 million at 13% higher year on year. Also, we see the EBIT margin a little higher at an area of 16%. And finally, the shareholder structure. Tsinavos family holds 72.8%, domestic institutional investors at 10.6%, institutional investors abroad 9.7%, and retail 6.8%. We will now stop for five minutes, so you can post your questions in the chat tool, and then I will try to answer as much as possible. Thank you. Thank you all for posting your questions.
Let me read it and answer as much as possible. The first question about the PDF on the investor relations website, we will upload it right after the finish of this webcast. A question about sponsorship of a soccer team or any special event. Unfortunately, this is not something that I decide. It's our marketing department, so I'm not very aware of what's happening there. For the outlook of milk prices. We see that milk prices are stable at the current level. You have seen that also in the gross profit bridge, where raw material prices didn't affect materially the gross margin.
However, we expect some bearish movement in the next months because of much lower animal feed cost. Animal feed accounts for nearly 75% of raw milk production cost. Question about strategic partnership in U.S. The launch in U.S. with Greek frozen yogurt, we don't expect to have any material impact this year. We expect next year to see some figures, but it is still too early to say something more. Same question about U.S. ice cream sales. About the margin in U.S. market, the price structure is such that allow us to have higher margins than that the current ice cream business now.
Question about working capital. Yes, we haven't seen any substantial difference in our working capital, and it relates to normal growth of business. Another question about raw material prices. I think I have answered this. CapEx in the second half in two thousand and twenty-four. I think that means two thousand and twenty-five. We expect this year total CapEx between EUR 21-25 million , and for next year to be at around EUR 22 million , as we are running project to increase the capacity mainly of our yogurt production plant and secondary of our some production lines in ice cream in order to cope with the increased demand from U.S. A question about the contribution of different export markets, especially France.
The major market of us is U.K. and Italy. Both saw very high growth during the first half of the year, and we expect to continue at a similar growth pace. France is a new market for us. Our estimate of annual sales is EUR 4 million. So for this year, we expect its contribution to our total sales to be low. A question about hedging EUR to USD. Yes, this is something that we will consider when sales and our cash flows will become substantial. Question about the main drivers for growth in the coming years.
We expect the key growth driver for us to be the markets abroad, both in yogurt, with expanding our geographical reach and expanding our customer base in countries that we are already present, and also with ice cream, the bet for us is the U.S. market. Question about dividend. Yes, that's true. We have a solid and healthy balance sheet, and we believe that, after financing our CapEx projects, we can have higher payouts in dividends on the coming years. For OpEx, a question about increase in headcount. Yes, we have increased headcount, and also we have increased our salaries.
This is in order to preserve our good work force and be able to keep with rising demand. Succession plans for the CEO. Yes, there are succession plans for all members of the board of directors. Of course, the CEO's role is critical, but there is no rush for such a succession. Mr. Tsinavos runs the company, and will. The plan is to run for the coming years also, to keep up on the same position. His son has the role of deputy CEO, so there is a plan of success on that way. Another question about USA. I think I've covered this also.
For U.S., we have started launching the launch of Greek frozen yogurt in Texas in some local supermarkets there. And we are in advanced discussions with some major U.S. retailers for private label, but this is too early to say anything more. A question about the biogas production plant. With this CapEx project that we have in place, because increased capacity and increased yogurt production will also make more waste, wastewater. We need to expand the biogas plant also, and this is included in this CapEx project. Question about the tax relief.
The tax relief is a percentage of state subsidy on capital on a CapEx project. This state subsidy is 35% on the specific projects that we have applied for. We expect this tax relief on this year on the EUR 5.3 million as a one-off figure. But we have also other projects that are eligible for state subsidy, and this we expect to mature on the coming years. A question about the cap of our domestic gross margin in yogurt segment. Yes, this is still in effect, so we cannot sell with a gross margin higher than that of 2021.
A question about the success of U.K. and Italy. Yes, the growth of sales in Greek yogurt in U.K. was a surprise for us and also our customers in U.K. this year. I think this shows that the trend to more healthy diet is still on, and also it has to do with some restructuring of the market. What I mean by that is that most retailers used to have three different series of private label products. The essential, which included the low-priced products, a medium series, and a premium series. Our yogurt was put in the premium series.
Recently, this medium series of private label products, they try to make it less effective. So, this makes room for more premium products to have higher volume, higher sales in volumes. Question about exporting products to U.S. and for U.S., we can export ice cream in an economical way. To transport yogurt, because of the short shelf life of 55 days, it doesn't work because you need to travel it by airplane, so the cost is very high. However, ice cream will because the shelf life is two years, we can easily travel it by ship and have a low transport cost. Current capacity utilization rate.
In the yogurt, it is very high, and in some production lines, it exceeds 90%. So we have experiencing some problems that we cannot cover demand in full. So it is urgent to proceed to this CapEx plan and increase our capacity. Which yogurt brand is main competitor in Italy? If you refer to our Greek competitors, Fage has long presence in the Italian market, and it is our major competitor there with the Greek yogurts. How much revenue we are making in Italy? I think Italy accounts of nearly 35% of our yogurt export sales. So I think this answer your question.
If this is possible to have such a level in France, I think it is, but it needs time for sales to develop there. What do you think the growth of sales will be for the coming years? We expect double-digit sales growth for the next three years. This is our plan. This is something that we will have to elaborate each year and give updated guidance. The final question about private label and branded products. In general, we try to develop our sales where we see opportunity. Private label have many positive aspects. Of course, there is risk along with expanding the business there. And, in that respect, we try to capture growth, but to mitigate the risk. I think this is all. Again, thank you all for joining this call. Have a nice day. Goodbye.