Hello, and welcome to the company's comments on the results of the second quarter from June to August of 2023 of Camil Alimentos. In these first slides, we will highlight Camil's main indicators today, which consolidate the company's position as one of the largest food brand platforms in Latin America. We have 35 plants and more than 20 distribution centers across South America with 8,000 employees. We currently operate in the grain, sugar, fish, pasta, coffee, and cookies categories in Brazil. Internationally, our operations are mainly concentrated in grains in Uruguay, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador, as well as healthy products in Uruguay through Silcom. On slide 3, we emphasize this new way of looking at Camil's results and growth. Since 2021, we have expanded our portfolio in Brazil with new categories that have boosted the company's diversification.
In 2023, several of the company's initiatives have come to fruition, with achievements related to the integration of the acquired companies, all of which are now grouped in the high-value category. We enter the wheat chain with pasta and cookies, in addition to launching our coffee business. These three most recent categories have considerable growth potential and higher added value in line with the diversification strategy we have always shared with the market. They are part of the high-value segment, highlighted on the right-hand side of the slide, along with the fish category. To facilitate market analysis and align the release of our results with our strategy, we have also grouped grains and sugar in our high turnover category, as well as the international segment, which consolidates the results of Uruguay, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador. Consolidating all our operations, we bring you the highlights of our second quarter results.
We reached BRL 2.9 billion in net revenue, up 8% year-on-year and approximately 10% sequentially. As a result, we achieved EBITDA of BRL 212 million, up 2% over the previous year and 7% sequentially, with a margin of 7.3%. In terms of volumes, we grew 15% sequentially, driven by high turnover and international sales, as we will elaborate further in the next slides. Regarding the operating highlights of Brazil, the high turnover segment, consisting of grains and sugar, posted a 7% growth in volumes compared to the previous year and 13% over the previous quarter.
This result was driven by the start of sugar exports as a result of the joint work with our strategic partner in the category to minimize the effects of a challenging and highly competitive scenario for this category in the short term. It is also important to note that rice prices in the market have been rising substantially, as indicated by the CEPEA index. This effect began at the end of August and continued throughout September without affecting the results for the period under review. Moving on to the high-value category, which includes fish, pasta, coffee, and cookies, we posted a 32% growth in volume year-on-year. We were able to quickly and efficiently integrate the companies acquired in 2022 into our ecosystem. In the pasta segment, we continued to show good results with ongoing projects to expand capacity, sales, and profitability.
As for Café União, we expanded its portfolio and launched it throughout Brazil with new packaging designs adapted to consumer preferences. The new packaging, such as the 250-gram pouch and the 500-gram vacuum packaging, will help us to consistently pursue market share gains in the category. The acquisition of Mabel in the cookies category, despite the initial operating challenges, has brought excellent results for the company, with consistent growth and profitability since joining Camil in November 2022. Sequentially, we saw a 4% reduction in volumes due to the decline in fish, which is facing a more challenging post-Lent scenario. We should bear in mind that this category had seasonal sales, which should ease in the pre-Lent period of the coming quarters, when sales usually tend to increase.
The high-value category represents an important step towards further strengthening our position as a food platform with leading brands and a variety of higher value-added products. In the international segment, there was a 15% reduction in annual volume and growth of 25% sequentially. This consolidated result was driven by the seasonality of our operation in Uruguay, which should normalize over the next few quarters due to the country's business model. In the other countries, we saw improvements and higher profitability in Ecuador, an effect partially offset by the continuing challenging scenario in our Peruvian operation. 2023 is a special year, marked by Camil's 60-year history. With a high-value product mix and geographical diversification, we continue to strengthen our brands, which are highly recognized by consumers in all categories and countries of operation.
We are gradually bringing gains in scale and boosting the results of the new categories, and we remain confident that we are on the right track to achieve our growth and profitability objectives. Now I will let Flávio comment on the financial results for the period. Flávio, you may proceed, please.
Thank you, Luciano. Moving on to the financial highlights of the period, we achieved net revenue of BRL 2.9 billion, up 8% year-on-year, a record turnover with a new level of scale for the company. Cost of goods sold also grew due to prices and entry into new categories, reaching BRL 2.3 billion. As a result, our gross profit hit BRL 574 million, with a margin of 19.7% in the quarter.
SG&A grew by 3% due to an increase in freight, marketing, export, and personnel expenses, as well as the entry into the cookies category, resulting from the acquisition of Mabel. As a percentage of net revenue, SG&A amounted to 14.8%, down 0.8 percentage points over the same period last year. This result is attributed to our efforts to optimize and review expenses to increase efficiency and find new synergies among the acquired companies. We have boosted the synergies and profitability of the acquisitions from 2021 to today faster than expected, as Luciano mentioned, exceeding our targets and placing increasing confidence in the growth of the new businesses. As for EBITDA, it stood at BRL 212 million in the quarter, up 2% vis-à-vis the year before, with a margin of 7.3%.
Sequentially, we highlight the 9.8% increase in net revenue and 7% in EBITDA, as well as the 1.7-point reduction in the percentage of SG&A to net revenue in the period. Once again, this result is largely attributed to price increases, volume growth in the consolidated accounts, and our actions in SG&A to optimize expenses and increasingly achieve synergies from new businesses. It is worth noting that our net profit amounted to 47 million BRL, a sequential reduction due to increased indebtedness in the higher interest, and the higher interest rate scenario compared to the previous year, which led to an increase in financial expenses for the period.
With this topic in mind, moving to slide nine, the company's net debt amounted to BRL 2.9 billion, with net debt to EBITDA for the last 12 months of 3.4 times in the quarter. It is also important to note that our reading of covenants is annual, the next one being in February 2024. The indicator is usually under pressure in the first half of the year due to the seasonality of working capital in the rice category, which peaks in the company's first quarters and eases from the third to the fourth quarter. In addition, it's worth noting that the company concluded its 12th CRA-backed debenture issue in June 2023.
The issue consists of simple debentures in a single series in the amount of BRL 625 million as CDI plus 0.9% per year, maturing in a single installment in December 2025. With this issuance and other funding carried out in the last period, we are comfortable that the company's commitments for the next twelve months will be met. CapEx amounted in the quarter with our projects already announced to the market to expand capacity in the pasta and coffee categories. In terms of ESG, we are consistently implementing the actions pursued by the company. Our initiatives are highlighted in this, in the sustainability report, available to you on the CVM and the IR websites, in line with Camil's business plan for the coming years, and with our focus on carrying out actions that are effective in our surroundings.
On this slide, you can see some highlights on each front, but I would like to emphasize two in particular. Compliance to this year's Brazilian Corporate Governance Report, which underscores the best governance practices of publicly held companies, according to the comply or explain model. We went from 85% compliance to 92%, which increasingly reinforces our governance initiatives and commitments. In addition, we have achieved 100% of our energy consumption in Brazil from renewable sources, and we are moving forward with our plan to build our new thermoelectric plant to increase our own energy generation in line with this target. For more details, I invite you to access our sustainability report and contact our IR and ESG team with any questions or suggestions.
In closing, as Luciano has already pointed out, we are working hard to increase our efficiency and gradually grow in scale and profitability. We are confident that we are on the right track to take the company to a new level of scale and profitability. Now, we will be available for a Q&A if you have any questions. Thank you very much.