Quarterly results advertisementthat people read

What a reader looks for first

A person who sees a quarterly results advertisement asks three things. How much did the company earn? Is that more or less than before? For which period? An investor, a banker, a supplier and an employee all start with these three. Then each decides whether to read on or turn the page.

So design the advertisement from those three questions. Put the answers at the top in large type. Everything else goes below them or goes to the website. A page with thirty rows gives the reader no place to start, and most readers leave.

What the rule says about the advertisement

According to SEBI's consolidated LODR, which is marked "Amended up to January 22, 2026" (read October 2026), Regulation 47(1) says this about the newspaper advertisement.

• Timing: it is published within 48 hours of the conclusion of the board meeting at which the financial results were approved.
• Content: it carries a Quick Response code, called a QR code here, and the details of the web page where the complete financial results can be reached by investors. The complete results are those under Regulation 33, along with any modified opinion or reservation of the auditor.
• Choice: the text also says nothing stops a company from publishing the results themselves in the newspaper, in the format specified, within the same 48 hours.
• Papers: under Regulation 47(4), the information goes in at least one English national daily and one daily in the language of the region where the registered office is. The regulation does not apply to companies listed on the SME Exchange.

The text we read does not fix a type size, a layout or a list of figures for the advertisement. It uses the words "in the format specified", and we did not trace what format those words point to. Ask your company secretary.

The rule was different before 13 December 2024. The footnote to Regulation 47(1) in the PDF shows the earlier text. It asked the company to publish the financial results. If the company had both standalone and consolidated results, it asked for the consolidated results. Turnover, profit before tax and profit after tax of the standalone results went in as a footnote. That is one reason many older advertisements look like dense tables. We give it only as history. The text now in force is the one above.

Two related rules. Regulation 46(2)(q) says the company's website must carry the items in Regulation 47(1). Our guide on SEBI Regulation 46 and a listed company website lists all the website items. Chapter V has its own newspaper rule, Regulation 52(8), for companies that have listed non-convertible securities. It also mentions a window advertisement with a QR code and link, on conditions. We did not study that rule, so read it if it applies to you.

The results advertisement format readers can use

This is our own suggested layout. It works from the top of the advertisement to the bottom.

• The company name and logo.
• One line that gives the period in full dates.
• One block of headline numbers: four or five rows, three columns.
• One line that tells the reader what the numbers are, such as consolidated or standalone, and in which unit.
• The pointer: a QR code, a short line such as "Complete results" and the web address in full.
• The small print that your company secretary and lawyers want, in a size a person can read.

The order of the rows

Put the row the reader asks about first. For most companies that is revenue from operations. Profit before tax and profit after tax come next. Earnings per share can follow if you want a fourth or fifth row. Rows that need a long note, such as exceptional items, stay on the results page.

Show the same rows in every quarter. A reader who sees the same four rows each time learns where to look. Changing the rows each quarter makes people wonder why.

Which rows to bold

Bold means "look here". Use it on two rows at most, usually revenue and profit after tax. If every row is bold, no row stands out. According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission's A Plain English Handbook, August 1998, sentences in capital letters slow readers down because the shapes of the words disappear. The handbook suggests a different size or weight, white space, rules, boxes or shading to make information stand out, and using the same method throughout. It is a handbook for US filings. We use it as a design guide, not as an Indian rule.

How to show the comparison period

A number alone says little. The reader needs something to compare it with. For most businesses the fairest comparison is the same quarter a year ago, because sales often rise and fall with the season. The previous quarter can be a second column if space allows. A third column makes the block heavy again.

• Write the period in full dates, such as "quarter ended 30 September 2026". A short code such as Q2 can mean different months in different firms and countries.
• Give the comparison the same label style, such as "quarter ended 30 September 2025".
• Show the change with a sign and a percentage. Use a plus or a minus, and also use words in the column heading, such as "Change".
• When the earlier figure was a loss or zero, a percentage can mislead. Write a short phrase, such as "profit this quarter, loss last year".
• Give the unit once, in the heading, such as "Rs crore". Do not mix crore and lakh in one block.

A long table in a small space

Newspaper space is sold by its size, and we state no rates here. A full results table needs a large box, and at a large box the type shrinks. Most companies cannot buy that space in both papers every quarter.

The way out is two layers. The first layer sits in the newspaper: one block of headline numbers and a pointer. The second layer sits on your website: the complete results, with the auditor's report. The advertisement is a signpost to the second layer.

This only works if the second layer is easy to reach. The pointer should open the results page itself, not the home page. Our guide on the investor page of a listed company explains how to organise that page so a reader finds the results in one tap.

The QR code and the web link

A QR code is a square pattern that a phone camera reads and turns into a web address. A newspaper is rough paper, and the ink spreads a little. So print it larger than you think you need to.

• According to the QRcode.com site run by Denso Wave, a QR code has four error correction levels. Level M restores about 15 per cent of damaged data and is the one most often chosen. Level Q restores about 25 per cent. The page is undated, and its text gave figures for only these two levels. A higher level helps a code survive smudges.
• The QRcode.com page on generating a code says a margin is required around the code. It says the size of each small square should suit the printer and the reader. It gives no minimum size. So we state none. Print a proof at the real size and scan it.
• Scan the printed proof with three phones, including an older one. Try it in dim light.
• Print the web address in full under the code, in type a person can read, for readers who do not scan.
• Keep the address short and keep it alive. A printed advertisement cannot be edited, so the link must work for years, even if the website changes. Ask your web team to keep a redirect.
• Make sure the page opens well on a phone and that the results are real text a person can read and search, not a picture of a page.

Regulation 46(3) asks the company to update its website within two working days of a change. If a result is revised, the page behind the QR code must change with it.

Type size, contrast and colour in print

Type size

According to the SEC handbook, August 1998, type of 10 to 12 points is most common in filings. It says 12 points or larger can help older readers. It adds that the same point size looks different in different typefaces. Those are guides for documents, not for newsprint. We give no fixed point size for a newspaper advertisement. It depends on the paper, the printing and the typeface. Print a proof at the real size and read it at arm's length.

Our own rule is simple. The headline numbers are the largest type in the advertisement. The notes are the smallest, but still readable. Small print that nobody can read does not help the company or the reader.

Contrast

According to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 (page updated 6 September 2026), normal text should have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 against its background. Large text needs at least 3 to 1. Large text means 18 points or more, or 14 points or more in bold. These are web standards. Use them to check your results page, and as a yardstick for the advertisement. Newsprint is greyer than a screen, so aim above the minimum. Light grey type, and type over a photograph, fail the test for most readers.

Colour

The same W3C guidelines say colour should not be the only way to show information (the page was updated 16 September 2025). So do not show a rise in green and a fall in red and stop there. Use a plus or minus sign and a word as well. Some readers cannot tell red from green, and some papers print in black and white. Check your proof in grey scale. We state no colour rates, because they differ by paper and edition. Ask each paper.

Use brand colour in a band at the top, and in one accent, such as a thin rule. Keep the numbers in dark type on a light background.

A made-up before and after

Say a listed company named Sample Industries Limited. The name and every figure below are made up for this guide. They are not a real result.

The first version fills a quarter page with a table of thirty rows. It has six columns of figures: the quarter, the previous quarter, the same quarter last year, the half year, the half year last year and the full year. Standalone and consolidated figures sit side by side. The heading is in capital letters, the type is very small, and profits are in red and losses in green. A QR code the size of a postage stamp sits in a corner, with no web address in words. A reader cannot find the profit, so the reader turns the page.

The second version keeps the same facts but uses the layout above. It reads like this.

Under the table a single line says that the figures are consolidated and in Rs crore. Next to it sit a QR code of tested size and the words "Complete results with the auditor's report", followed by the web address. The small print follows, in readable type.

What changed? The rows went from thirty to four, and the columns from six to three. Two rows are bold. The period is in dates. The change has a sign. The pointer is clear. The difference in the size of the type is what a reader notices first. This is our design idea. Whether four rows are enough for your company is a decision for your company secretary and your lawyers.

From board approval to the newspaper

Regulation 47(1) counts 48 hours from the conclusion of the board meeting. The clock starts when the meeting ends, so a late meeting leaves little time. Plan backwards from the meeting. This timeline is our own method. The cut-off time of each paper is not in the rule, so ask each paper for its own.

Results themselves have their own dates. According to LODR Regulation 33(3), quarterly results go to the stock exchange within 45 days of the end of each quarter, other than the last quarter. Annual audited results go within 60 days of the end of the financial year. The advertisement follows whichever board meeting approves the results.

What this guide leaves to your lawyers

The advertisement is the company's document. The company and its lawyers decide these points, not the designer.

• Which figures, and how many, appear in the advertisement.
• Whether to show consolidated figures, standalone figures or both.
• Whether the advertisement should mention the auditor's report or any modified opinion, beyond what the pointer leads to.
• The exact wording, notes and any disclaimer lines.
• Whether a full results table, a window advertisement or a headline block is the right form for your company.
• What follows if a rule is missed. The Regulation 47 text we read states no penalty, and we state none.

If your company is preparing an annual report as well, the same readability ideas apply. See our page on annual report design and our note on annual report design trends. For the whole set of guides, start at our pillar on annual reports and investor communication.