Standalone vs consolidated results: Trent's two Q2 profits

Trent's group earned less than Trent on its own in the September 2026 quarter: consolidated net profit was ₹468 crore against a standalone ₹490 crore. Yet the smaller, consolidated number grew 25% while the larger, standalone one grew 8.6%. Both are correct. They measure different things, and on Friday the shares rose 5.44% while headlines quoted one figure or the other.

This guide uses those two sets of numbers, plus IndiGo's results from the same evening, to show what each set of accounts counts and how to tell which one a report is quoting.

Trent's quarter, twice

The standalone figures are from Apparel Resources, 5paisa and Upstox; the consolidated ones from Business Today and Upstox. A year earlier, standalone net profit was ₹451 crore and standalone revenue ₹4,724 crore.

Two things in that table look odd until you know what goes into each column. Revenue is higher in the consolidated accounts, by ₹85 crore. Profit is lower, by ₹22 crore.

What each column counts

Standalone results are the accounts of the listed company alone: Trent Limited's own stores, its own costs, and any dividends or other income it receives from companies it has invested in.

Consolidated results treat the group as one business. Under Indian accounting standards that happens in two different ways, depending on how much control the parent has:

• Subsidiaries, which the parent controls, are added line by line. Their revenue goes into group revenue, their costs into group costs, and sales between group companies are removed so nothing is counted twice.
• Joint ventures and associates, where the parent shares control or has significant influence, are not added line by line. Under Ind AS 28's equity method, the parent's share of their profit or loss appears as one line near the bottom of the income statement.

Trent has both kinds. Its Star grocery business sits in Trent Hypermarket, a 50:50 joint venture with Tesco, according to Tesco's own announcement of the deal. Star had 87 stores in 13 cities and grew revenue by more than 20%, Business Today reported. Because it is a joint venture, none of that revenue appears in either column above. Only Trent's share of its profit or loss reaches the consolidated accounts, in that single line. Trent's Zara stores, according to its Wikipedia entry, are run through a separate joint venture with Inditex, which would be treated the same way.

That explains the revenue gap. Joint ventures add nothing to revenue, so the extra ₹85 crore in the consolidated column should come from Trent's subsidiaries, after intra-group sales are taken out.

Why 25% beat 8.6%

The profit gap needs a little arithmetic. The consolidated profit of ₹468 crore is 25% higher than a year earlier. Reports round that growth to a whole number, so the true figure lies somewhere between 24.5% and 25.5%. Working backwards:

• ₹468 crore ÷ 1.255 = about ₹373 crore
• ₹468 crore ÷ 1.245 = about ₹376 crore

So a year ago consolidated profit was roughly ₹373 crore to ₹376 crore, while standalone profit was ₹451 crore. The group businesses and consolidation adjustments took about ₹75 crore to ₹78 crore off the parent's profit in that quarter. This year they took ₹22 crore off.

The parent's own profit grew modestly. What changed most is that the rest of the group cost it much less than a year before, and that shrinking drag is what turns 8.6% into 25%.

Which part of the group improved, I can't tell you. The gap mixes subsidiaries' results, the share of joint-venture results, and adjustments such as removing dividends that the parent booked as income from group companies. Separating those needs the notes to the results filing, which I could not open from NSE or BSE tonight.

EBITDA has more versions still

The EBITDA row in the table shows the same problem one level up. Apparel Resources gave standalone EBITDA of ₹1,054 crore, up 29.6%. Upstox gave standalone operating EBITDA of ₹791 crore, up 37%, and consolidated operating EBITDA of ₹785 crore, also up 37%.

The ₹263 crore difference between the two standalone figures is too large to be a typo. The likely cause is the definition: "operating EBITDA" in retail usually treats store rents as an operating cost, while EBITDA calculated under Ind AS 116 adds the rent back, because leases are accounted for as depreciation and interest. The summaries I read do not say which definition each used. If two reports give different EBITDA growth rates for the same company and quarter, check the definition before assuming one of them is wrong.

IndiGo: the same gap, from currency instead of subsidiaries

InterGlobe Aviation reported the same evening, and its numbers show that the headline-versus-underlying problem is not only about group structure.

IndiGo's September-quarter net loss narrowed 27.2% to ₹1,879 crore from ₹2,582 crore, The Week and Upstox reported. But The Week also gave the loss excluding foreign-exchange movements: ₹723 crore, against ₹103 crore a year earlier. On that basis the loss grew roughly sevenfold.

Airlines carry large dollar-linked costs and lease liabilities, so a move in the rupee changes their reported result. Here a smaller currency hit than last year hid a larger loss before currency effects. Fuel costs, The Week said, rose 67.2%. "Loss narrows" and "loss widens" were both accurate headlines for the same quarter. The shares closed 4.33% higher on Friday, and as the Nestle India example showed, a price move on results day reflects expectations as well as the numbers, so it does not settle which reading mattered.

Which number the rules put first

SEBI's listing regulations decide what a company must publish and when:

• Regulation 33: quarterly results within 45 days of the end of the quarter and annual results within 60 days of the year end. A company with subsidiaries, associates or joint ventures must file consolidated results in addition to standalone ones; a SEBI circular of 26 September 2019 made that apply even to companies that have only associates or joint ventures.
• Regulation 47: results must appear in newspapers within 48 hours of the board meeting. When a company has both sets, the consolidated results are the ones printed, with the standalone turnover, profit before tax and profit after tax given as a footnote.
• Regulation 29: the board meeting that approves results must be announced to the exchanges at least five days in advance.

So the rules treat consolidated figures as the main ones. News summaries do not always follow that order, and Trent's quarter reached readers as both an "8.6%" story and a "25%" story.

Four checks before quoting a results headline

1. Find the word. Look for "standalone" or "consolidated" next to the figure. If neither appears, the report has not told you which it is.
2. Compare like with like. A standalone profit this year against a consolidated profit last year produces a growth rate that means nothing.
3. Look for the exclusions. "Excluding forex", "excluding exceptional items" or "recurring" figures can point the other way from the reported one, as IndiGo's did.
4. Check the definition of EBITDA before comparing margins between reports, or between companies.

The daily reports on this site name the basis of each results figure for this reason; Friday's is the post-market report for 30 October, and Thursday's report on Adani Ports' consolidated profit is another example.

Sources

• Trent consolidated results: Business Today and Upstox
• Trent standalone results: Apparel Resources, 5paisa and Upstox
• Trent Hypermarket joint venture: Tesco plc; Zara joint venture with Inditex: Wikipedia, Trent Limited
• IndiGo results: The Week and Upstox
• Equity method: Ind AS 28, Investments in Associates and Joint Ventures
• SEBI listing regulations 29, 33 and 47: Taxguru summary of the provisions
• Share prices: Zerodha Kite market data

This guide explains public company results for information only. It is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. I am not registered with SEBI as an investment adviser or research analyst.