Good morning. Welcome to the video conference of M. Dias Branco, reference to the results of the 2Q 2023. We have with us here Gustavo Lopes Theodozio, Vice President for Investments and Controllership, and Fabio Cefaly, Director of New Business and Investor Relations. We'd like to inform you that this event is being recorded and that during the presentation, all participants will be in listen-only mode. After that, we will open the section of questions and answers for analysts and investors. The translation is available, clicking on the interpretation button. For those who are listening in English, the original audio in Portuguese can be silenced, clicking on Mute Original Audio on the bottom of your screen. The translation is also being done simultaneously in YouTube on www.youtube.MDiasBranco.
We would like to clarify also that any declarations may be made during this video conference with relation to the perspectives business perspective, M. Dias Branco's projections and operational and financial goals are beliefs and, and premises of the management of the company based on currently available information. They involve risks, uncertainties and premises because they refer to future events and therefore depend on circumstances which may or may not happen. Investors should understand that economic conditions of the industry and other operational factors may affect the future performance of M. Dias Branco and lead to results which are materially different than those expressed in future considerations. We'd now like to pass the word to Mr. Fabio, who will initiate our presentation. Fabio, please go ahead.
Good morning. Welcome to our teleconference for results of the second quarter of 2023.
It's a pleasure to have all of you here. I'm gonna go through the presentation, and after that, we will open the Q&A for Gustavo and myself. These were the results, very, very good results, aligned with our strategy of growth and profitability, and results which consistent with the growth of revenue and the gradual improvement of margin since the beginning of the year. We delivered BRL 2.8 billion on net revenue, which is a growth of 14% compared to last year, and 15% compared to the first quarter of this year. This growth in revenue is an important point in the results of the second quarter, and it came with an increase of average prices and an increase in volume.
The average price was 5% above that registered in the last year and 2% above the first quarter of this year. We have been able to have growth at average price in comparison year-over-year, as well as sequentially this year. Volumes grew by 9% compared to last year, in two digits, 13% compared to the first quarter of this year. Our variable costs were R$3.6 per kilo in this quarter, above the cost of last year, which is important to point out.
That last year, from the standpoint of costs, is a difficult base of comparison because all the impact of the Ukrainian conflict on the price of wheat hit our results on the first quarter of last year and not in the second quarter, due to our stock of approximately four months of raw material. Compared to the first quarter of this year, we had a fall in cost of variable costs to 3.7, 3.7% BRL to 3.6% BRL. SG&A, which is our administrative and sales expenses as a percentage of net revenue, remained at 20% in line with what we had last year and also in the first quarter.
As we signaled in the recent teleconferences, this is the level that we understand should continue over the next few periods, over the next periods. EBITDA was BRL 377 million, growing by 6% compared to last year, and doubling in comparison with the first quarter, with a quarterly margin of 13.2%, which was above that of the first quarter, 7%, and a little bit below last year's margin. The principal point here is the question of costs, which is a difficult comparison since we had not yet seen the full impact of the conflict in Ukraine.
Over the quarter, we had a positive evolution in our margins, going from 10% in April to 13.3 in May and 15.6% in the month of June, due to the increase in our volumes and the sequential fall in variable costs. From the standpoint of cash on hand, we had record cash generation of R$ 512 million, better than last year and better than in the first quarter.
Remembering that it's always important to remember that our strategy, which has three principal avenues for growth in our current business, which are the current business, which is pasta, and, and wheat, wheat flour, where we have a bigger participation in the Attack areas, where we have opportunities for growth, with prices-- with average prices, which are better than in the Defense area, differently from other categories, especially healthy crackers, cookies, and snacks. Remember that we made acquisitions, in these categories in recent years. Internationally, in the acquisition of a, a pasta company in Uruguay, which helped Las Acacias, which are supporting our continuous program of, efficient pro-production. Going into our revenues and market share, our net revenue, both in the accumulated for the year as well as in the quarter, had growth of-- double-digit growth.
We grew by 14% year-on-year in the quarter, 22% in the accumulated for the year. As I mentioned at the beginning, this growth, both in the quarter as well as in the accumulated year for the year, is based on increased volume, 9% in the quarter and 8% in the accumulated growth, as well as in price, 5% in the quarter and 13% on the average year and the accumulated increase for the year. Here, we'd like to highlight the two principal categories of cookies and pasta, which represent this huge percentage of our revenue. We've had an increase of average prices, 11.8% in cookies and crackers, and 9.5% in pasta, and growth in revenue, which was double-digit growth in both categories.
The same vision in the comparison of second quarter 2023 to the first quarter 2023, and a sequential increase in prices over the year, with an increase in volumes and growth of revenue. It was truly a very good result from the standpoint of revenue, which is what we're looking at right here, and also, and also consistent, as we noticed, as we have signaled over recent quarters. In the accumulated for the year, it's the same vision. Net revenue grew by 21%, the volume by 7.9%, and the average price 12.7%. The same vision of the growth of revenue by 2 digits, double digits, with an increase in volume 4.3% in cookies and 2% in pasta, and the average price growing in double-digit, at double-digit rates.
This growth in revenue happened in both regions, commercial regions of M. Dias Branco, 14% in both regions in the comparison with last year. In both regions, we've also had growth in average price and in volume. We had the launch, important launches in this quarter, aligned with our strategy of growth with profitability. We launched products with average prices well above the average price that M. Dias Branco works, which is close to R$6. This is an example of snacks under the Piraquê brand, with R$31 per kilo price. Healthy snacks, which is our second avenue for growth, we launched in granola under the Jasmine brand of R$21 per kilo. Piraquê, as we have done for several quarters, important launches in the category of cookies, which, together with snacks, are the principal categories of the Piraquê brand.
The launch of a, of a malted black, chocolate malt of BRL 17.8 per kilo, which also increases our average price and our gross margin, and consequently, our EBITDA margin as well, and our return for the company. Continuing in the question of launches in cookies, the contribution of cookies from the last 24 months in the revenue of this quarter was BRL 74.3 million, 36% above than in the 1st quarter of this year, and also higher than the 2nd quarter of last year. The average price, as I mentioned at the beginning, has been consistently improving from BRL 5.97 per kilo last year, BRL 6.17 in this year, and now BRL 6.27 in the 2nd quarter of 2023, BRL 6.27.
With the highlights in the cookies category, which has grown gradually over the last quarters due to several levers. We've had several pass-throughs from last year, which also generated an effect in 2023. We had the launch of products with higher added value, contributing positively to the improvement of our average prices and margins, and also a series of initiatives in pricing. Remembering that in the last 12 months, we have structured an area of pricing which has delivered results, favorable results, and positive from the standpoint of revenue, both revenue and margin. I want to go into the market share chapter, talking about, first about cookies and wheat flour. The two categories, both in market share and value, which is the and as well as market share, which is the bar on these graphs.
We had increases in share on the year-on-year vision, and for, for cookies and, and pastas, in, in cookies and, and wheat flour. The Finna brand, which is already number 1 brand in Brazil, we're talking about domestic wheat flour, that which is sold at retail. In the vision, quarter-to-quarter, we had a small falloff in market share, both in cookies as well as wheat flour, but in an interval of tolerance, of tola- within a space where we could tolerate it. In, in pasta, the graph shows the same information, the same market share value, and the column is market share volume. We had a falloff year-on-year and a retraction quarter-on-quarter, both in the value as well as in the volume, basically due to two factors.
First. We had a reduction in the size of our packages in several SKUs, in several items, in the category of pastas, going from 500 to 400 g packages, which at the first moment, which is the transition period between first quarter and second quarter of 2023, brings us small falloff in volume, because these items need to be reregistered at the point of sale. We have a situation here, which is from the agenda, which gives us a small loss in market share, temporary loss of market share, due to this change. The second factor is that our price increase in the first quarter of 2023 versus the first quarter of 2022 was a little bit above the market's prices. We increased our pastas.
We had an increase in prices for pasta, close to 20%, while the market worked with 17.9% increase. These two factors together explain this retraction of market share in the short term, from the first to second quarter of 2023, and also in the vision of the year-on-year from second quarter of 2022 to second quarter of 2023. We have participated in important fairs, both in Brazil as well as outside of Brazil. We now going to the chapter of costs and expenses.
Here, the important point, due to the growth, the consistent growth of our volume over the last months, we have increased the utilization of our capacity, which was 64.5% in the second quarter of 2023, higher than the 55.5% in the first quarter, and also higher than last year in the same quarter, which helped us to dilute more our costs, our fixed costs, and increase our gross margins. What we have observed in the next slide, our gross margin in the second quarter of 2023 was 33%, better than the 27% in the first quarter of 2023, and it was still a little below the 34% in the second quarter of 2022. This small falloff from the second quarter of 2022 to 2023 is explained by the variable cost, as I showed here at the beginning.
This BRL 3.3 per kilo had not yet been impacted by the increases in palm oil and wheat, due to the conflict in Ukraine, which we observed here, starting from 3Q22. To look at a more challenging scenario here, from there to here, it has presented a tendency to for falloff. The fixed cost going from BRL 0.9 and 1.1 per kilo, had a retraction from 1Q23 to 2Q23 due to the better utilization of our capacity, of our productive capacity. At the same time, our average price has been improving. Every quarter we look at the blue line for these two graphs, represents the average cost in our stock, and the red line in our market price.
At the end of last year, until June, in wheat, we presented a small falloff. In the month of June, we had a price of our stocks better, great, much better than the market price, remembering that the market price at this moment in June, was impacted by the factors in the Ukrainian conflict as well. The palm oil has shown a tendency of reduction, both in the market as well as in the M. Dias Branco numbers. These two factors, oil, palm oil and wheat, have contributed to an improvement in our variable costs and also, therefore, in our margins. The expectation is that this will continue over the next few periods.
The expenses, the administrative expenses, close to 20% in line with our expectation. Remembering that three or four years, this level was approximately 24% or 25%, and we're now able to reduce this structurally to a level close to 20%. The EBITDA margin for the quarter of 13.2%, improving since the end of last year from 4.4% in the fourth quarter, 7% in the first quarter, and 13.2% in this quarter, with sequential improvements. Closing the month with 15.6% in June. The net profit followed the same route. We closed the period with BRL 217 million in net profit, well above the first quarter and a little bit below the second quarter of last year.
The explanation for the falloff from last year to this year is a net debt, a slightly higher net debt and a higher level of interest rates, the CDI, which is the principal indicator of our debt, which is a little bit higher this year than last year. Going to the area of investments, we have an operational generation of cash of BRL 512 million, explained by three factors, both in the quarter as well as in the accumulated for the year. The better improvement of our results, as we mentioned, as we mentioned in the previous slides, growth in volumes, growth in average price, maintenance of our SG&A, and falloff in fixed costs. This explains the improvement of the EBITDA year-on-year for the quarter, and as well as this year for the accumulated for the year.
In the accumulation of working capital, which we looked at the variation of all our, all of our assets and liabilities, we saw BRL 156.25 million and BRL 110 million for the accumulated for the year, both suffering the effects of these three items. It helps to explain the record generation of cash of BRL 512 million in this quarter. An improvement in working capital, principally in the accounts of suppliers and stocks and inventories. This is a work that has been done since 2020, when we started, in the area of 20 days, and we closed this quarter with 44 days.
Receivables is stable between 54 and 58 days, and inventories in number of days went down in comparison to year-over-year and also quarter-over-quarter, basically due to the falloff of commodities prices. With all this generation of cash for our net debt being reduced in the comparison with the first quarter, from BRL 1.6 billion-BRL 1.2 billion, and consequently our level of leverage from 1.6x-1.2x the EBITDA, and our triple A rating issued by Fitch. The CapEx grew a little bit by 2% compared to last year, closing the accumulated for the year with BRL 117 million. Now to finalize the chapter of ESG, it's always looking at the three pillars of our sustainability strategy: care for the planet, believe in people, and strengthen our partnerships.
These results of this quarter in the consumption of water, reuse of water, residues sent to landfills, loss of supplies and wasted products, and purchases from local per- suppliers have an important evolution, both in the comparison quarter-on-quarter, as well as in the year, in the year, accumulated year numbers. Several highlights in the sustainability area. For the second year in a row, M. Dias Branco was recognized in the Guia Exame, Exame Magazine, as one of the best in ESG. We received various, various prizes. We participated in various events. We got the certificate of international quality in the internal audit area, in the area of governance, and we continue with our portfolio of the Women in Leadership Index, Women in Leadership Index, all the practices and goals for the year 2020, 20 year, 2030.
Heading towards our goals in the year 2030. I'm gonna close this first part, and I'll pass it over to Gustavo, and then we will begin the area of questions and answers. Thank you.
Muito obrigado, Fabio. Good morning to everyone. The company continues in a trajectory of consistent and coherent growth, as we have mentioned, following our strategic plan, delivering results, leaving a, EBITDA margins of 4.4%, going to 7%, and now giving 3 point, earning 3.2%. As we've mentioned, in terms of improvements, both in costs as well as operating improvements for the company.
Looking at this quarter specifically, we delivered more revenue, and once again, we have shown that SG&A is under control, representing something close to 20% of our net revenue, which had been as high as 26% prior to the pandemic, with more margin, more record, cash generation and operationally as well. We are structurally more robust, improving our level of service, our control and management of the working capital, the complementing of the policy, the pricing policy, which is more granular, and we have evolved greatly in the execution at the point of sale with our program of, a perfect store program, Loja Perfeita, and structurally, working with a portfolio of products with higher added value.
This has come both through our launches of new products at the point of sale, as well as the acquisition of new companies with higher margins than M. Dias has, and an execution which is totally aligned with our strategic plan of the 3 pillars, which is Brazil. Growing more in Brazil, growing in other categories, and also in the process of internationalization, where we took the first steps at the end of last year. The first was due to the increase of exports, and then the second, in November, we announced the acquisition of Las Acacias in Uruguay. Finally, the company's on track, evolving even after these periods, so challenging periods during the pandemic, and 2 years in the pandemic, and right after that, the war, the Russian-Ukrainian war. There's still some stability in the...
There's still some instability in the Black Sea, especially with the threats of bombardment of ships in Ukraine by the Russians, in Russia, by the Ukrainians, so we don't know exactly how that will be solved in the short to medium term, but it still requires attention. I'm gonna pass now over to the Q&A section. I'll come back with Fabio to answer any questions you might have. Thank you very much.
We now begin the questions and answers section for investors and analysts. If you would like to make any questions, please hit the raise hand button. If your question has been answered, please leave the line clicking again on the same button. Our first question comes from Gustavo Troyano of Itaú BBA. Gustavo, your microphone is open.
Good morning, Gustavo, Fabio.
Oh, thank you for the opportunity. There are two points that I wanted to examine with you. First, in relation to the market share in the quarter. One thing that I saw in the release, the reduction of share volume and share value was a little bit. I wanted to see a little more granularity in the presentation, but I also wanted to see if there was an increase in prices in relation to the rest of the industry, as well as the reduction of the sizes of the packages, and if it was the driver in your share volume during the quarter. Also wanted to know if this question can be attributed to potential price increases in your price list and due to the volume of the packaging.
I also wanted to explore a little bit, your perception about the rationality of pricing in the industry and if it has been maintained over the quarter, and this dynamic of market share was related in any way with the falloff in margins from March to April, since you opened up the price, the margins month by month here. The second point, more short, is in relation to cost deflation, especially the contribution of palm oil to this dynamic. If I'm not mistaken, it would be one of the drivers of margin growth over the quarter, starting in the second quarter, and if you saw any variable, any effect, any events related to that variable cost, and then how that will look on your P&L in the next quarters, if that will help in ex- margin expansion going forward.
Thank you, Gustavo.
I'm gonna start here, and then I'm gonna pass it over to Fabio to add anything that he might want. First, market share is very much related to one specific category, which is pasta. Going into the detail, regional players in pastas in the Northeast, it's very concentrated in that area, and in truth, we understand that the market continues rational, acting rationally, and this movement that we have done in, in cookies, M. Dias Branco, it was even a little slower than our competitors due to the number of productive units to downsize. Here, in pasta, it's the opposite. The company started downsizing before our competitors, specifically... We started with the common, the normal, everyday pastas. That which the dynamic, which, you know, phase in, phase out.
We had to re-register, use up all of the stock on the shelf, and then put a push to get onto the shelf, the new items with the different weight and the and size of packaging. This is very concentrated in terms of that. We don't see any disruptions, specifically in ordinary pastas and the lack of rationality in the market. We did not place prices, relevant prices, very little, quarter on quarter. What we captured really was the supermarket, where we had a bigger loss of share. The only category that had loss of share was due to the Downsizing of the packaging, which began back in the second quarter, and this should continue during the next few months. March to April, it was a question of the market itself.
We didn't make any big changes in relation to pricing. The market as a whole, is, basically was stalled in, in April and took over again in March and April. It seems to be a structural question. Which, we saw a falloff in volume a little bit below in between March and April. Even so, in, it, it recovered in May and June. In relation to palm oil, winds are favorable, yes, and we'll see, more clearly in the coming quarters. You can see our curve. We had a average cost, a little, higher than the market compared to last year, when we had a better price than the rest of the market. These two lines will have tendency to meet each other, and at some point in time, will be better than the market.
We see favorable winds in palm oil as well as in wheat. A little bit better than our competitors. We see this due to all these dynamics in the Black Sea and the growth of the price of wheat. We understand that our competitors are suffering on their next purchases, and because of the protection that we have of our hedges and our stock, we will be able to naturally have to increase prices due to the cost of increase in the price of wheat, but we maintain our stock at a average cost, which is very interesting, which will be utilized, especially in the next quarter. The favorable winds in terms of palm oil and favorable winds also on the side of wheat. Fabio, any comments?
I just wanted to add to the first point in relation to the pasta market.
To illustrate a little bit what Gustavo mentioned. We observe in this market, is that the market has demand, a strong demand this year, in line with the historical levels. Close to single digits, a mature market with growth in volume, which winds up growing with the population growth, that's what we've seen this year. From the standpoint of value, the market also grows, both in the division of quarter-on-quarter, from the first to the second quarter of this year, as well as in division year-on-year, where the market value has grown by double digits.
Thank you for your clarifications.
Our next question comes from Leonardo Alencar, from XP Investimentos, from XP Investimentos. Your microphone is open.
Good morning, Gustavo, Fabio. Thank you for taking my question.
I would like to make a little follow-up in relation to the previous point. It's evident that your pass-through in the price and in the categories of wheat, which was strategic and favored you in the environment of your competitors. I wanted to understand a little bit more about how this was done in the channel. I see that there was a strong growth in cash and carry, and distributors, which may have sacrificed part of that effect. Also, perhaps the necessary time to re-register these products could impact that. Another point, understanding this narrative, we see that the production capacity has fallen, but there was increases in efficiency, so there was an increase in production in the pasta category.
With the increase in production, did you have this loss of market share and going into more into the cash and carry, and distributors at the same time you have price increases? Can you close these numbers a little bit better for us so I understand, even with the reduction in your overall stock, your overall inventories, and how are you going to the next quarter? If this process of re-registry of new products, how long will it take? Because we understand that it's a very strategic variable to be able to adjust the size of your packaging to catch this market effect.
We just want to know how long this will take to get these new products reregistered. Two questions. The first one is about the question of the working capital for the next quarters.
There was a better, an improvement in this quarter. Can we expect that in the next quarters? With the question of the commodities and the other lines also, what else can we expect on these other lines as well?
Thank you, Leonardo. This is Fabio. Good morning. Let's go. In relation to the time to reregister these products at the... It usually takes one quarter. So we imagine that the moment for the reregistration was in the second quarter, and the dynamic, channel by channel, we don't see anything different-- very different from that.
You may have observed or seen in our release that the channel, the cash and carry channel and the distributor channel, have gained a little more relevance in our channels, channel list, but our distributors are in line with our strategy of gaining capillarity outside of the Northeast, but every channel has grown. When we look at the value and volume year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter, we've had growth of revenue in every channel. However, in the cash and carry, and the distributors, wound up growing a little more, which is explained by our strategy, even that, even from the standpoint of the biggest channels, obviously have a bigger impact, and because they have more they buy more volume. As I mentioned earlier, it's an agenda that winds up happening, basically during one quarter. Perfect. In relation to working capital?
Go ahead. Can you-- Yes, we hear you. In relation to the working capital, this release that happened in the, in our inventories was principally due to the price of commodities. We have the expectation of having the freeing up during the next few periods, both in volume. Both commodities have gone up both in reais as well as in dollar, and we also increased the volume of our inventory of raw material and finished products to increase our level of service. The OCF is a way to, to improve, so that's space to improve, but it's already doing much better than when we started to measure this, this key point. So we have the expectation of continuing liberating working capital in, in inventory during the next few months.
For suppliers, another line which has opportunities for the creation, for the freeing up of working capital.
Thank you. Thank you very much. That's clear.
Our next question comes from Isabella Simonato from Bank of America. Your mic is open.
Thank you, Gustavo and Fabio. I just wanted to come back to the discussion of prices. You brought some important information about the performance during the quarter. You mentioned that there was no sequential increases, increase, increase in prices that was relevant during from the first to second quarter. Can you open for us, what was the effect of mix?
If there was any mix effect with the consumer, eventually, beyond the innovations that you've launched, having products with a slightly higher average ticket, or if the essence of this increase of 3% quarter-on-quarter, was a movement more in line with the reduction of the package size and increase in average price, due to this initiative? That's the first question in relation to pricing. The second is looking forward, and you mentioned this, that the environment continues quite rational. What do you imagine in the way of an environment for a sequential increase in prices? We see the margins in the sector, continuing to improve. Is the idea to continue to pass through these prices in line with inflation or to work more on your mix?
What do you, what do you imagine as the behavior of the competitors in these circumstances?
Hi, Isabella. Thank you for your question. I'm gonna start here, and then I'm gonna let Fabio add anything he has. I would like to mention that no relevant pricing, where we see growth, and growth was really the downsizing of the packaging of the pastas, starting with the common pastas, the day-to-day pastas, and a little bit more in prices of other categories and mix. We launched a new price list in the first quarter, approximately 7% higher, and then depending on region and category, this price list, due to the prices of commodities, especially wheat, was not no longer viable. we maintained these tables, these price tables, but we added discounts, and in this...
Part of these discounts were gradually and surgically being diminished, so it contributed a little bit to this increase. However, it was the downsizing of packaging for pasta carried forward from last year, and a little bit of the, this capture, which we mentioned, of the price list at the beginning of the year. We started giving discounts. These discounts have now diminished during this quarter. Looking at the Looking forward, our expectation is not betting on new, on new protocols for pricing. What may happen is that we reduce even more these discounts that I mentioned earlier. The situation is still quite difficult to read. The relationship with the Black Sea, in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is extremely unstable.
There are some conversations happening, so we have to see that situation improve greatly so that wheat prices can also improve, to be able to make a better decision in relation to pricing. The advantage is that we've already registered our new prices, and we're able to continue offering discounts. I don't believe in new price lists, unless in the case of wheat flour, which last week, as we mentioned here, because this, yes, is more connected with the evaluation of the commodities. In the other categories, looking forward... There's no programming for new prices in this period.
Very clear. Thank you. Very clear. That's very clear.
Our next question comes from Thiago Duarte of BTG Pactual. Thiago, your microphone's open.
Good morning, Gustavo, Fabio, everyone. I want to continue with this discussion of revenue and breaking it down into two questions.
First, when we think about cookies, which is where you have marketed more efforts in innovation and launching new products with higher average prices, you give this interesting information about the % of gross revenue coming from innovations, et cetera. I would like to know in this point, if you're able to open for us, what is the impact when we look at year-over-year or any other variation about over time, the impact that you understand that these innovations will have on the average price of cookies in particular, and if possible, the average price pondered, the average price for the company. The second question is about market share, to understand a little bit how, how's your reading? I think it's very clear, especially with the pastas.
What you understand has been the impact of the size of the packaging, the changes, the weights of packaging, and the registration effect, and that this should be a temporary effect. We also, at certain moments in recent years, when the company suffered some type of falloff in market share, you, you already mentioned that part of this loss of share, that we understand was even healthy as a way for you to preserve your margins. At other moments, you also said, "This, you can't, can't keep losing share forever." We wanted to hear from you about a little bit about at what point this loss of share starts to bother you, especially in pastas, which is where the falloff was a little more, more important in this quarter.
I want to hear what you had to say also in relation, we should imagine, the perception of the company going forward when we talk about market share. Finally, a follow-up of a comment that Gustavo made when we discussed this fall of the monthly EBITDA margin from March to April. You mentioned that the market was basically holding steady at that time. I wanted to understand in what sense? Was it a question of demand, was it a question of mix, a question of channels? Just to understand what type of risk we should be considering so that the volatility of margins, similar volatility of margins do not happen again in the second and in the third and fourth quarter of this year. We can have an expectation of margins, of effect on margins that is very strong as well.
Thank you for your question. I'm gonna start with your last question first. This, this slowdown in April, in prices, it was what was greatly related to the sell-in and then the sell-out. We don't see any change, relevant change, in, in the behavior of the consumer. Our vision is that there was a certain control, higher control on the days of stock, of the days of inventory, of the large sellers, due to financial costs. In the month of April, we had several interactions with several large clients, showing, in fact, that, that the risk that we were running, of running out of stock on the shelves, and we were able to revert part of that in May. It makes sense for you to have better stock, better inventory control, as long as you don't lose sales.
It was an important work of our team, changing the focus and talking to the responsibles of several stock-outs and purchases that were recovered so that there will be no risk, no relevant risk. What concerned us the most is when we see deceleration of the sellout. Going back to April, that wasn't the case. Talking a little bit about share. Yes, pasta share. This level that we arrived at is a level that generates a certain amount of concern. We know where it came from. As I mentioned, local competitors in the Northeast, in everyday pastas, day-to-day pastas, trying to minimize the effect, which should help us with the downsizing effect. We are adding investments, especially at the point of sale for trade marketing.
We have a plan underway, which in the month, last month, and our expectation is that this share that we lost in pasta will be recovered by the end of the year. If we don't see any, any changes in any threat from marketing or sales, which is underway due to this change in packaging size, none of these items will be totally registered, both in the question of pastas, Fabio mentioned, it takes a quarter for you to get in, to get everything re-registered under the new packaging, new size. You're right, it calls attention, but we have addressed this question, and we don't see any risk to not recover this market share. We're gonna now pass over to Fabio.
I saw a question, a question about cookies. You're right.
Cookies, we have given more emphasis because it's half of our business, half of our revenue. 50% comes from cookies. I'm gonna pass it over to Fabio for him to add.
Well, Thiago, thank you. Certainly, our launches have contributed positively to the increase in average prices and the evolution, sequential evolution of our margins, especially when we highlight the volatility, which gives us a little more visibility to the launches in the cookies market. Along with the snacks, the healthy snacks, which are more, more important for this improvement. Also the principal lever during the last quarters has been the Piraquê brand, which is our, our major brand.
It's the, it's the brand which grows the fastest, which has the highest average price, and it's a brand that has the highest gross margin, closest to 40% in this quarter. Compared to M. Dias Branco overall, which had a 33% margin, Piraquê delivered a margin of 38%. So-- and Piraquê has been-- has received the highest investments in marketing and also in innovation, with snacks that we gave a little more concentrated this year, this mo- this quarter, as well as the malted chocolate snacks, which have performed very well in terms of volume and sell-in volume and sell-out.
Okay, thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Lucas Ferreira of JP Morgan. Lucas, your microphone is now open.
Hi, everyone. Thank you. Two question.
One is a follow-up and one question about the question of this favorable winds, which was mentioned about the costs and the inputs, which will continue in the next few quarters. I want to see how much of this favorable wind has already been captured in June, since you said you had a from 10%-15.5%? If you think that there's still at this level, if there's no big changes in prices, which doesn't seem the question, if there's any upside for margins on these June levels? Also a point which was not commented was the exchange rates. You have a strategy of hedge. The average was it well above 5, and I don't know how your average exchange rate is aimed at the second, end of this, second quarter?
If you have any upside in the area of, of having a more, a more favorable exchange rates in your costs. Also something that you discussed last year, and we spoke a little bit more, but just to be certain, how do you see this decision from the Supreme Court at the end of last week in relation to, to benefits and subsidies and the base of calculations of the post of income tax. In the case of income, M. Dias Branco, how do you see this subject from the standpoint of the investments that you have in different states? If your understanding is the same, or is there any other company that has perhaps already that to your knowledge, has made some of a provision for this subject? Just to get an update, the latest update from you guys.
Hi, on this occasion, this is Fabio here. Based on what I've... making reference to the graphs that we presented in the quarter, which show an average price of our inventory. Looking at these graphs, we're able to-- It's clear that there's a reduction in costs in both of the principal commodities, which are, are contracted for at least through the third quarter. Our expectation is that we should have some upside on, on margin, as you mentioned, due-- just due to this fa-favorable evolution in costs in relation to the benefits. If I understood your question correctly, our principal benefits are connected with our costs, so we monitor this constantly. We don't-- So far, we don't really have an opinion made up yet about this subject. Gustavo, you wanted to ask about the exchange rate?
I would say that in my rate, our lawyers, none of them, don't see any risk that is... Or our auditors, that deserves a reevaluation of our provisions. The company is looking at the question of, from these specific points. Looking at costs, yes, both, the wheat as well as oil, should have important falloffs from a high 1 digit to 2 digits. I can't really give you guidance on that, but it should be more an add to our profitability, still in this growth. As we mentioned to you, part of the company which has connected between 15% and 20% on this trajectory, the tendency is that We'll have a better profitability than in the second quarter than in the first. The exchange rates.
We've been saying that due to the cost of these hedges, we were working with shorter, shorter hedges, not so much in the long term. All of our hedges are below the average cost, below 5 CDIs. Looking at the short term, I would say that it's a good position for the fourth quarter, hitting at R$472 on the spot market without the hedge costs. I think that for 2023, we're well productive. For the rest of 2023, we're well protected.
As you could, as you had noticed there. Basically, that's it. Thank you very much.
Perfect. Thank you very much.
Our next question is from Rodrigo Almeida from Santander. Rodrigo, your mic is open.
Thank you, Gustavo. Fabio, I wanted to ask another question about we're looking at a moment of a lot of cash.
At the level in which you're operating, you have, you have approximately BRL 2 billion in cash in this quarter. If you have a good quarter, there'll be more generation of cash in the next quarter. How should we think about in terms of the allocation of this capital? What are the opportunities that you see? If you could explain that to us. In this context, you have a contingent payment for the end of the year, if I'm not mistaken, an amount close to BRL 200 million. If you could explain how this payment works with your allocation of capital that you expect to do, or if you foresee the payment of dividends or even anticipation of a payment of dividends during the second half. What's your perception on this area of ...
Looking at the minimum cash needs of the company, we see the company running with a tremendous amount of cash in the second quarter. I wanna understand from you about, a little bit more about this, this side of the leverage and the net debt, the situation of your, of the company.
Thank you, Rodrigo. Before mentioning about cash and minimum cash needs, we wanted to say, looking forward with the internal plans for each one of the directorates of the company, we have several operational captures to be made, in both in the level of suppliers as well as the level of, of inventories. We have margins for improvement. Clients, not so much, because the trade is very pressured.
We've seen even several opportunities to extend our payment periods and so forth, not, not for free, but due to more volume or more, or more actions at the point of sale, more space. This robustness in our cash position makes it possible to have this exchange with the trade, in the trade world, as long as it generates more business, more profitability and more P&L. It's an important route for us to take. Due to the cash situation, we're paying 100% of our debts. This month, we will be paying more than BRL 300 million to be paid down this month. By the end of the year, as you mentioned, we're just not paying more because some of our debts have, have a very, have a early cancellation fees.
So we wanted to take out to lower our financial payments, but we are paying 100% at their maturity, all of our debts. We have several debts which do not have the re- the repayment fee. We're negotiating the anticipation of these, and we can't forget that even though it's a year in which we need to do our homework, we have to make it clear that part of this cash has to be separated for opportunities, eventual M&A opportunities as well. It's a little bit that so our minimum cash needs, close to R$1.2 billion. We have a high cash position, but these ex- these expenses should be coming up for the payoff debts and several, several opportunities in the trade, trade marketing world, so opportunities which will be interesting for us.
This cash will be very useful for us in these opportunities, facing these opportunities.
Very good. Thank you, Gustavo.
The question and answer session is now closing. We'd like to pass the microphone to Gustavo for his final considerations.
Thank you all very much for your participation. Once again, we place ourselves at your disposal, Fabio and all the IR team. All of the, we're on track with the route of growth that we have been talking to you about. These questions, operational questions, have evolved internally, and we're in a point of revising our, our plans, internal plans. We don't see any big risks looking forward, whether it be operational or market risk, which is unknown to us in the short term, which worries us. It's focused on the execution, which we have done.
We have several opportunities to the level of service, execution, our expansion plan, which is underway, which is very relevant. We have to qualify and scale up these companies, which will bring more margin and a stronger portfolio. So we go forward in this line of qualification and delivering, delivering more of, more and the best. We've seen over recent quarters, and we expect with the expansion of margin, the pricks in the coming quarters as well. Once again, thank you all for your participation, and we're at your service for any questions you might have. At your service. A hug.
The video conference of M. Dias Branco is now closed. We thank you all for your participation, and have a great day.