Mark LaVigne
Analyst · Evercore
Good morning, and welcome to our second quarter earnings call. While we are pleased to report on a solid second quarter, we are even more excited to discuss what's ahead. More on that in a moment as we will start with Q2. We once again made great progress on our priorities for the year: margin improvement, free cash flow generation and debt paydown. Our top line benefited from our continued recovery in the battery category and another strong performance in auto which, along with significant improvement in gross margin, drove 13% adjusted earnings growth in the quarter. Strong free cash flow generation year-to-date has enabled us to pay down over $60 million of debt in the quarter as against these priorities has reduced our leverage, which we expect to be below 5x by year-end and fueled our growth initiatives, which will help deliver top line growth in the back half of the year.
Let's review the current state of the businesses starting with batteries. Battery organic net sales were down roughly 4% in the quarter. The decline was consistent with our expectations with improving trends from the prior quarter primarily driven by improving category dynamics and distribution gains. Looking at the category. Global Battery volume and value both showed growth in the latest 3-month data. Importantly, Global Battery volume grew nearly 3.5% during that period. This represents a significant improvement from the prior year, where volume was down 5.5% in the comparable period. U.S. category volume increased 2.8% in the latest 13 weeks. In addition to the healthy trends we are seeing in measured channels and online, we have also seen improving trends in nontracked channels as we lap softness, which began in the spring of last year.
Our performance within the category remains strong. Consumers are selecting our brands, driving a value share gain in the U.S. in the quarter. Private label value and volume share declined globally in the quarter. And while private label is growing across many consumer categories in the U.S., we have seen battery private label value share declines in each of the last 3 quarters. Within our Battery business, we have maintained a prudent approach to pricing and promotion ensuring that we engage with consumers and drive demand while improving overall gross margins. That discipline will continue as we leverage the strength we have reestablished in our P&L to drive future growth with ongoing margin improvement.
As we look ahead, our improved margins, the inflection in category volume, the strength of our brands and a stable pricing environment reinforce our confidence in returning to growth in the back half of the year. Turning to Auto Care, which is another bright spot in the quarter. Organic net sales increased over 2% following a 5% organic increase in the prior year quarter. Our appearance business had a particularly strong quarter, increasing nearly 9% organically year-over-year. The investments we are making are working. Exciting innovation and increased investment to connect with consumers are driving much improved business performance. In the second quarter, segment profit expanded by nearly 600 basis points. We have returned the Auto Care business back to pre-pandemic profitability and expect further improvement going forward.
The day-to-day execution by the teams has been outstanding particularly when you take into account the progress also being made on Project Momentum. The program generated $20 million in savings in the quarter, taking total program savings in nearly $100 million to date serving as a key factor in margin expansion and earnings growth in the quarter. We launched Project Momentum over 18 months ago to restore the health of our P&L. And thus far, it has exceeded the ambitious goals we set at the time. Even more encouraging, we have uncovered opportunities for additional savings. We now have both of our categories returning to pre-pandemic levels of profitability with line of sight for ongoing improvement this year and next providing us the flexibility to invest for future growth.
The organization has worked tirelessly to reach this inflection point, and we have the business poised for growth, all while remaining focused on continued margin improvement, free cash flow generation and debt reduction. Beginning next quarter, we expect to see the combined benefits of top line growth and further margin expansion with Q3 adjusted earnings expected to increase 20% year-over-year at the midpoint of our range. While the work around Project Momentum has been at the forefront of much of our presentations in the past, we have been working to reenergize what we do best, invest in innovation, build our brands and drive distribution gains across our categories around the world. Over the balance of the fiscal year, you will start to see the results of that effort. And as we approach FY '25, they should become even more additive.
To provide some context around this confidence, let me break down the areas of focus. First, we have discussed our investments in e-commerce capabilities many times in the past. And after assessing the current landscape and opportunities, we have made additional significant financial and organizational investments to ensure we capture the growth available to us in each of our categories, not only in the U.S. but in many other markets around the world. Second, the investments we have made in our digital transformation provide much improved data and analytics to our pricing and revenue management teams, which allow them to read and react in a more dynamic way to capture opportunities and mitigate risk in mix management and strategic pricing. Third, improved visibility and distribution of our brands across major markets will drive top line growth in the back half of this year and beyond. Fourth, we believe that we have strategic market expansion opportunities in attractive international markets.
By leveraging our distributor market group, we gather insights into markets which may initially be to subscale to warrant significant investment. Ultimately, we are able to identify certain markets, which we [Technical Difficulty] and allow us to accelerate growth further and faster. And fifth and finally, we have been investing in our innovation pipeline and partnership opportunities to deliver exciting new products which meet consumer and customer needs better than anyone else. The innovation pipeline in both Batteries and Auto Care is the strongest we have had in many years and we are excited to introduce many new and improved products to consumers over the next several years.
These growth opportunities have been made possible by the tremendous work in restoring the margins in our business and now allow us to invest in a cycle of growth going forward. Having set the stage for what's ahead, let's take a step back and turn it over to John to talk about the progress made in the second quarter and provide some details around the balance of the year outlook.