We are here in our webinar. Its earnings release to talk about the second quarter results. We have had a very good performance in the second quarter. Now I'm going to give the floor to Kleber Gomes, the CEO, to talk about the results, the business strategies. Kleber, good morning. The floor is yours.
Good morning. Marcelo, please, can you hear me? Can you see me well?
Yes. Please.
Good morning. I would like to apologize because I am traveling. I am right back from Agroleite Trade Show. Well, we had a very good quarter. The growth was almost 20%. The company had a very good growth in the half, 14%. This growth is leveraged by the strategies that we had.
We had new businesses in the past years. Since last year, we are reaping the fruits. We launched seven products. Last year, in the first quarter, we launched our immunocastration vaccine. Now in the second quarter, we had two important launches for cattle. Boostin. Boostin is a product that we have already mentioned here. It's a partnership with the Korean LG. It's very important product for the dairy cattle, dairy livestock. We launched this in the second quarter, and the results are very good so far. Also, we launched NexLaner, the new active parasiticide. It's a line of products for treating bugs, all types of parasites. The efficacy is very high. It's a product based on a new molecule that has a formulation developed by our team. It's a unique and very appropriate formulation. The product was launched by the end of the semester.
We had a few sales yet, but I'm sure that the success of this product will be amazing. The strength of our new businesses via the internal development and research has helped us to have this very sustainable growth. Also, we will have a lot of things under development currently. The results were very positive looking at the businesses. Production animals are highlighted. The growth was 27.8% compared to last year's, was 20% higher. We have only one segment, the pet segment, that had a margin that was a little bit smaller than what we've imagined. We feel the market is kind of retracted, especially in retail. It's not the best condition that we would like to have, but I don't think this is something that is going to continue for long-term.
I think that in the second half, pets are going to improve, especially because the second semester, second half, it's better for this segment. We are in this phase, but looking also to the internal conditions of the company. This growth is matched by a very good growth margin related to the last half. This is thanks to our supplying team and our improvement in the operational efficacy. Also, we have some investments in R&D and the commercial team that were higher this year. The expenses were a little bit higher. Always thinking and aiming the growth to have better results, we have to invest. We hope to close the year with a very good results, positive, both in profits and revenues. Regarding the EBITDA, last year, you remember we had distribution of capital, the payment of dividends that were a little bit higher.
We had an impact in our financial results, impacting the EBITDA. According to our planning, the company is very robust with a lower leverage, and we are fulfilling our plans. The second quarter was really strong, and now we have to do a very good job to continue and close the year reaching our goals. Thank you so much. I would like to thank all the teams, and now I give back the floor to Marcelo, and I will be back with you again in the Q&A session.
Thank you, Kleber. Now I'm going to give more color about the financial details, the consolidated results, profit, EBITDA, leverage. In the first slide, we see this consolidated growth, both in the quarter and in the accumulated six months period. We see that the revenues grew 19.3% in the quarter, with an expansion of the margin.
This is important to highlight. We have some elements that justify the expansion of the margin. We had a cost reduction, a more favorable portfolio, especially with the products launching in this quarter. We have the expansion of livestock and also with the increase in the international operations and that offset the not so good results of the companion animals segment. Now let's talk about the business units. Here we have livestock. We are growing around 27.8% in the quarter. The growth was due to the launching. Especially, we have the distribution of Boostin in April. It began in April. The NexLaner launching in June. Also, we had immunocastration vaccines launched between January and February. There is this trend of growth for the second half as well. The second half is always a stronger half. Here, really the launchings are the highlight.
They help us to expand the gross margin of the business unit. In pets, we had an evolution in the quarter. There was a growth compared to last year, the growth of 2% in the half. These macro effects can really impact the profile of the families in Brazil, but we understand this is temporary. It impacts not only the sales of the industries, but also in the retail it has an impact. If we see the results of other companies in the retail that are working in retail, they also had a more modest result because of the interest rates that pressure retail. The second semester is promising. The company has been intensifying the sellout of their stores, and we have this expectation of having products that will help to leverage the growth in the second half. In the international operations, we have had a sustainable growth.
Colombia has been growing continuously. We are already a very relevant player in the country, and we are leader there in some segments. The country has been presenting a very good performance. We have a geo-expansion project aiming to expand in countries where we are present through distribution, but also increasing the number of countries where we are. Chile is a highlight. We've began operations there one year and a half ago, and expansion has been bringing some growth. Mexico have had a lower performance in comparison to the other countries, but there is a relevant market over there. The margins of the international operations are very high, above 60%. This contributes for the consolidated results of the company. They are also an important factor for us because the revenues are in USD and they offset partially the imports of resources.
Regarding expenses, as Kleber mentioned, we have an eye on the reduction of costs. In the quarter, we dilute these expenses, and this dilution happens even with the relevant investments that the company have made in marketing and in the commercial areas. For instance, we have created an unit for swine and poultry. Even at the core, we are able to dilute the investment in the accumulated results. We also keep the agenda of investments in R&D, reaching 8.8% of the liquid net revenue. This is very consistent. Since 2021, the expenses were always below the expectations. Sometimes we are putting them in investments. In other periods, we put them in the expenses, depending on the phases in which the projects are. Here, it's important to highlight that we have a combination of a relevant revenues growth accompanied by the dilution of expenses and reduction of costs.
EBITDA grew 26.5%. We grew with a gross margin that is good. The EBITDA growth was above the sales growth. Regarding cash creation, we had relevant cash creation of BRL 50.5 million, even with the investments that we needed for the stock of the products that were launched. We have to invest in these stocks. The products that began to be commercialized, and of course, the company had to make stocks of those products. We had to invest in stocks of Boostin, LeanVac, the vaccines, NexLaner. We have now safety stocks, and we can now guarantee that no break in operations happen. Even with all these investments, we have a cash creation of BRL 50.5 million. In the first quarter, FINEP released BRL 67 million, the second installment of our funding program for innovation.
We still have another installment that is going to be released and adding what with distribution to the shareholders and dividends paid in May, we had a distribution of around BRL 155 million. The cash is relevant. We were able to do this distribution of resources that was important for the shareholders without compromising our liquidity and our leverage. We had a leverage of 1.1x EBITDA. This is very comfortable, especially when we compare this with our debt profile that is around 8.2 with, I guess, a Selic of 15%. This has a profile that is very long. 87% of our debt is above five years long-term. Half of this will be due in five years' time. This is really important for cash generation. I would like to close telling you that the company is growing very strongly in the first half.
We kept the expenses down, we are very comfortable to keep our agenda of investments and the launchings of new products, the basis of our growth. I will give back the floor to Kleber. We already have some questions asked, and I will be back if there are some questions for me.
Thank you, Marcelo. We have here two questions. Both are from Andre Prates. First one, could you please give us more details about the pet segment? Was there any other element beyond the macro scenario that was responsible for the results?
Well, I think it's because of the macroeconomic scenario that is more challenging now. We have a high inflation. The scenario has been for a long time already, this macro scenario. This brings limitation for the retail segment.
We feel this, even the public companies in this segment that are releasing their results, they have had an impact. Our work in the segment continues the same, remains the same, and are even being intensified in this challenging scenario. We have had efforts in marketing, penetration. The work with the veterinarians, the trading work. Naturally, the second semester is always better. I'm sure that we are going to close the year very well in the pet segment as well. Consequently, there's no strategy change in this segment. We will have an intensification of our efforts to pursue the results we aim to have. We even hired an advisory team.
We have a work aligned with our market intelligence so that we can be able to end-to-end, customer to customer, understand the acceptance of our products and where can we work exploring a higher penetration, talking to customers. This is an intensification of our efforts that are going to for sure bring results in the second half.
The next question by Andre as well is about, he wants to have our point of view about the effects of the tariffs placed by U.S.
The Union of Industries have released a report about it. For instance, we don't export to the U.S. We're not affected. The segment of animal health in Brazil produces not that much for exports to the U.S. Also, the Brazilian government is going to tariff products imported from the U.S., but here for the veterinarian area, the effects are small.
We have just a few products that are going to be impacted. In our case, it's just one product that we commercialize here and that comes from the U.S. It is an important product, okay, but proportionally, its weight is not that big in our revenues. It's very small. From the point of view of the business, obviously the exports of meat, of protein, of Brazilian protein is going to be affected. In the last years, Brazil has developed partnerships with other countries as well as with China, for instance. The U.S. has a certain representativeness, but it's around 15%. Of course, if the exports drop, the meat will be sold here in the internal market, and maybe there will be a reduction in price.
We have not felt anything yet because it was too recent, I understand that we are not going to have a big impact at this moment. There are some conversations conducted by the private sector to try to ease the situation of proteins regarding the tariff. We are going to have some meetings. I don't think really that we are going to have big problems right now, at least with the information that we have so far.
Thank you, Andre Prates, for your questions. We have some others. Let me read them for you. A question by Carlos Silva. The last half had an increase of BRL 5 million in the due titles up to 90 days. How have you been perceiving the fall in the veterinarian chain? We have had a very stringent control and very detailed. This increase in the due titles is small.
It's usually on the first days of the due date. Then the payment is made in the next few days. We don't feel problems with credit in the last years. We have an exchange of information with the pharma sector. They also measure the fall in the sector. It has been growing, but we have always been below the average rates. Looking to the agricultural issue, we don't have these structural problems that we see in the agricultural sector. What happened was very specific. Of course, we are in a moment of an economic retraction. We have to follow it up closely, especially also the agricultural issues, mainly in those customers that buy also veterinary products. We are following up the situation in Rio Grande do Sul. They have been suffering with climatic questions and problems.
We had this year a problem in the soy crop. We all know that it was a single situation, one in a time situation, but we are now having the main trade show, the Expointer. Our credit team will be researching the market. Marcelo is going to be visiting the South. I understand that we are very comfortable with our credit situation. Of course, we need to track it constantly. There is another question. It's seen an evolution in the revenues in the last half. It shows the gross margin also increased. The launches also were very relevant for these results. Could you please comment on this? Yes, the launches, they are important. Of course, we don't lose the focus on the line of products. The line already has an important penetration.
We are leaders in the segment, but we continue evolving, paying attention in the question of the price. Of course, the market is always competitive. You have new players coming in the life cycle of the product. We have to monitor it all. When we need to position a product up or down, it's according to the strategies. The launches are important, they will continue to be important, but the line also has to grow above the market. Unfortunately, I cannot give you guidance, details about products. This is our daily life. Marcelo, would you like to add something regarding credit? I understand that these were the last questions. I give back the floor to Marcelo for the closing remarks.
Before, though, I would like to thank you again. Thank you everybody for the good results.
I would like to thank our shareholders that support us, our suppliers, and tell you that we are really very excited about the second half. It's going to be very difficult. We have the strategies, the products, the people, especially, to make this happen, to deliver again a very good year according to our expectations. Thank you.
Thank you, Kleber. I would like to add about the due titles. We had some cases with the distributors. Now we don't have a concern with the fall. If you look at our historical records, the provision is very good, okay? Of course, we have sometimes one or other situation that can increase the amount provision, but this is aligned with our credit department. We have provisions for the second semester. There's no risk for the company in this sense.
Since we don't have any more questions, I would like to thank you for your participation, for your questions. I would like to reaffirm our commitment to continue growing for all the stakeholders of the company. We expect to have you here with us again in the next earnings release. Thanks also for the IR team.