6A.14 Reading a results filing on the day

Prerequisites M06 · 6.1–6.2 (reading a company, the three statements), M06 · 6.8 (the forensic checklist), 6A.1 (the calendar and $\tau = 0$), 6A.3 (the implied move). Sector definitions are in 6A.15.

6A.14.1The document set#

A results day produces up to five documents. In order of legal weight:

1. The financial results under LODR Regulation 33, filed on the exchanges within 30 minutes of the board meeting ending (Regulation 30; 6A.1). They contain the statement of profit and loss for the quarter and the year to date, the segment note (Ind AS 108, Operating Segments), and, in the September and March quarters, the half-year statement of assets and liabilities and the cash-flow statement. They state whether the figures are audited or carry the auditor's limited review, and whether the auditor's opinion is modified. Groups file standalone results (the listed company alone) and consolidated results (with subsidiaries). On NSE the same data appear in the exchange's structured "Integrated Filing" format, which is what the worked example below reads.¹
2. The press release, usually filed with the results. It is not audited. It contains the numbers management wants you to see first: constant-currency growth, deal wins, order inflow, volume growth, margin commentary.
3. The investor presentation and fact sheet (data sheet). The sector KPIs of 6A.15 usually live here, often with eight or more quarters of history. They are company definitions, not accounting standards, and definitions change; check the footnotes each quarter.
4. The earnings call (audio, then a transcript within five working days; 6A.1). Guidance and the answers to analysts' questions come from here.
5. Regulatory and industry data released separately: monthly sales filings (autos), IRDAI's public disclosures (insurers), US FDA inspection outcomes (pharma). 6A.15 says which.

Standalone or consolidated? Read consolidated for any company whose subsidiaries are a material part of the business (most large companies). Read standalone when the subsidiaries are separately listed (you would otherwise count them twice in a sum-of-parts valuation) or when the question is the listed entity's own cash, for example its capacity to pay dividends. Never compare a standalone figure with a consolidated one.

6A.14.2The routine#

Do steps 1–3 before the filing appears. Writing them down first is what separates reading results from reacting to them.

1. Expectations. For revenue, operating margin, profit and the three to five sector KPIs of 6A.15, write your own estimate and, if you have it, the consensus. Write the implied event move from the options (6A.3; M09A · 9A.10).
2. What would change your mind. One or two sentences: which KPI result would change the inputs of your valuation (M06 · 6.4: growth, ROIC, the competitive-advantage period), and which would only change this quarter.
3. The pre-event price. Note the last price before the filing and the session in which $\tau = 0$ falls (6A.1).
4. The timestamp and the opinion. Record the exchange timestamp of the filing. Check audited or limited review, and the auditor's opinion (unmodified, or qualified with a stated impact). A qualified opinion is a finding in itself (M06 · 6.8, the forensic checklist).
5. Derive the quarter. Filings show the quarter and the year to date. If the previous quarter is not shown, compute it by subtraction: Q1 = H1 − Q2. Do the same for every line you need.
6. Clean the profit. Separate operating profit from three things that are not operations: other income (mostly interest on treasury), exceptional items (one-offs the company chooses to show separately: restructuring, legal settlements, impairments) and tax-rate changes. Compare operating profit (EBIT, revenue minus operating expenses) and its margin first; compare profit after tax only after adjusting for the other three.
7. Growth, twice. Quarter on quarter (QoQ) for momentum, year on year (YoY) for businesses with seasonal quarters (consumer, autos, cement). Use constant-currency growth for exporters (Proposition 6A.18).
8. The segment note. Which segments grew, which shrank, and how segment margins moved. A flat total often hides one segment growing and another shrinking.
9. Cash and the balance sheet (September and March quarters). Operating cash flow over profit after tax; receivable days; for project businesses, unbilled revenue and customer advances. Profit that does not become cash is the first item of the forensic checklist.
10. The KPIs of 6A.15 against step 1.
11. Guidance against delivery. A two-column table: what management said last quarter, what was delivered. Then the new guidance. Companies that do not give numerical guidance still give qualitative statements; record those verbatim.
12. Decide and write down. Does anything change a valuation input, or only the level of this quarter? A level surprise with no change in the trend is worth roughly one quarter of earnings; a change in the trend (growth, margin, ROIC) is worth a change in the multiple. Then compare the market's move with the implied move (6A.3) and with your judgement. Record everything in the journal.

6A.14.3Worked example: TCS, quarter ended 30 September 2026#

Source TCS's integrated filing on NSE (consolidated, audited, ₹ lakh in the filing; ₹ crore below), board meeting on 8 Oct 2026 from 11:00 to 15:20, prior intimation on 22 Sep 2026, auditor's declaration of an unmodified opinion [V]. The filing gives Q2 (Jul–Sep 2026) and H1 (Apr–Sep 2026). Q1 is H1 minus Q2 (step 5).

₹ crore, consolidated	Q2 FY27	H1 FY27	Q1 FY27 = H1 − Q2
Revenue from operations	73,188	1,45,463	72,275
Other income	1,337	2,905	1,568
Employee benefit expense	41,890	84,027	42,137
Total expenses (incl. finance cost 252 / 525 / 273)	55,887	1,11,118	55,231
Profit before exceptional items and tax	18,638	37,250	18,612
Exceptional items	0	−668	−668
Profit before tax	18,638	36,582	17,944
Tax	4,704	9,228	4,524
Profit attributable to owners	13,884	27,233	13,349
Basic EPS (₹)	38.37	75.27	36.90

Step 6, cleaning EBIT is revenue minus expenses excluding finance cost: Q2 $73{,}188 - (55{,}887 - 252) = \text{₹}17{,}553$ cr, a margin of 23.98%; Q1 ₹17,317 cr, 23.96%. Other income was 7.2% of profit before tax in Q2 and 8.7% in Q1. The effective tax rate was 25.2% in both quarters.

Step 7, growth Revenue grew 1.26% QoQ. Profit attributable to owners grew 4.01% QoQ, and that is the figure most reports headlined. Profit before exceptional items grew 0.14%. The difference is the ₹668 cr exceptional charge in Q1: Q1's profit was depressed by a one-off, so Q2 looks better against it. On an operating basis the quarter was flat: revenue up 1.3%, EBIT margin unchanged, other income down. YoY growth needs the Q2 FY26 filing, which is not part of this one; the press release reported constant-currency growth of 0.5% QoQ and 2.8% YoY and an operating margin of 24.0%².

Step 8, segments (segment revenue and segment result before unallocable items, from the same filing).

Segment	Q2 revenue ₹ cr	Share	QoQ	Segment margin Q2 / Q1
Banking, financial services, insurance	28,882	39.5%	+3.19%	25.45% / 25.64%
Manufacturing	7,346	10.0%	+3.32%	27.82% / 27.89%
Consumer business	11,137	15.2%	−0.08%	29.77% / 29.68%
Communication, media, technology	10,862	14.8%	+2.34%	26.82% / 26.79%
Life sciences and healthcare	7,589	10.4%	+2.15%	25.27% / 24.69%
Others	7,372	10.1%	−7.69%	17.27% / 17.66%

Five of six segments grew 2–3% QoQ in rupees; "Others" fell 7.7%. The press release attributed the weakness to the India business, down 10.3% QoQ in constant currency³. The headline growth of 1.3% is therefore a mix of ordinary growth in the large verticals and a one-segment decline. Whether that decline is a lumpy contract ending or a trend is the question for the call.

Step 9, cash Operating cash flow for H1 was ₹25,801 cr against profit after tax of ₹27,354 cr (including minority interest): a conversion of 94%. Current plus non-current trade receivables of ₹69,374 cr are 87 days of annualised H1 revenue. Nothing here contradicts the reported profit.

Step 12, the market TCS's next session was 9 Oct 2026. The stock rose 3.86% (M15 · 15.4.5), 1.07 event-day standard deviations of the move the options had priced. A quarter that was flat on an operating basis met a positive reaction. Possible explanations, which the filing alone cannot separate: expectations were lower than the flat quarter (the stock fell 14.5% in September 2026, from ₹2,399.30 on 31 Aug to ₹2,050.60 on 30 Sep, Yahoo closes [S]); the reported deal wins (total contract value of about $9.6 bn [S]) and commentary on AI revenue changed views of future growth; or the 4% headline profit growth was read at face value. The routine's job is to tell you which of these you believe and why, before the price tells you what others believe.