Wetin H1 and H2 Mean for Company Reporting

H1 and H2 na the two halves of company reporting year: H1 na the first six months, H2 na the second six. Q1 reach Q4 divide the same year into quarters, with Q1 and Q2 inside H1, while Q3 and Q4 dey inside H2. The main trap dey underneath these labels. Reporting year no must start for January, and for plenty listed companies, e no dey start there.

Wetin H1 and H2 mean for company reporting

The H stand for half. H1 na the first six months of reporting year, while H2 na the last six. For company wey close books on December 31, H1 dey run from January reach June. For company wey close books at end of June, H1 dey run from July reach December, six full months earlier for calendar than the first company own.

Some nearby labels dey follow them. FY na fiscal year, the full twelve months. Q1 reach Q4 na the quarters, numbered from the beginning of fiscal year, no be from January. Interim reporting mean anything wey cover period shorter than full year, whether quarter or half, and e usually dey unaudited. Annual reporting na the audited full-year set.

None of this hard. Confusion almost never come from the letters. Na the calendar underneath them dey cause am.

Fiscal year versus calendar year

Calendar year dey run from January 1 reach December 31 for everybody. Fiscal year, wey dem also dey call financial year, na the twelve-month accounting period wey company choose for itself. E fit end on the last day of any month, or on one fixed weekday near month end. Na why some year ends dey shift by some days from one year to another. Retailers commonly close books after dem don count holiday sales and clear stock. Companies wey business connect to school year or crop cycle dey choose end date for their own quieter period.

US issuer dey file audited full-year set on Form 10-K. Filing deadline dey come 60 to 90 days after fiscal year end, depending on filer size. The panel below count companies wey file one for each month of calendar H1 2026.

SELECT
    monthName(filing_date) AS filing_month,
    uniqExact(cik)         AS companies,
    round(100 * uniqExact(cik) / (
        SELECT uniqExact(cik)
        FROM global_markets.stocks_sec_edgar_index
        WHERE form_type = '10-K'
          AND filing_date >= toDate('2026-01-01')
          AND filing_date <  toDate('2026-07-01')
    ), 1)                  AS share_pct
FROM global_markets.stocks_sec_edgar_index
WHERE form_type = '10-K'
  AND filing_date >= toDate('2026-01-01')
  AND filing_date <  toDate('2026-07-01')
GROUP BY filing_month, toMonth(filing_date)
ORDER BY toMonth(filing_date)

February and March carry most of the half, 1866 companies and 2684 companies, 35.7% and 51.3% of the six-month total. Na the pattern wey December 31 year end leave for filing calendar. The rest of the list na the main point of this page: annual reports reach every other month of the half too, with 150 of them for June alone. Each one belong to issuer whose first half no be January to June.

Which household names dey close their year outside December

The next panel show nine big and familiar issuers. E list the calendar months wey their reported periods close, based on three years of income statements on file, beside the latest close of all.

SELECT
    ticker,
    arrayStringConcat(
        arrayMap(m -> ['Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun', 'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec'][m],
                 arraySort(groupUniqArray(toMonth(period_end)))),
        ', ')                      AS periods_close_in,
    uniqExact(toMonth(period_end)) AS distinct_months,
    uniqExact(period_end)          AS closes_on_file,
    toString(max(period_end))      AS latest_close
FROM
(
    SELECT
        arrayJoin(tickers) AS ticker,
        period_end
    FROM global_markets.stocks_income_statements
    WHERE period_end >= toDate('2023-07-01')
      AND period_end <  toDate('2026-07-01')
)
WHERE ticker IN ('AAPL', 'COST', 'HD', 'JNJ', 'KO', 'MSFT', 'NVDA', 'ORCL', 'WMT')
GROUP BY ticker
ORDER BY ticker

AAPL dey close its reported periods for Mar, Jun, Jul, Sep, Dec, most recently on 2025-12-27. WMT dey close for Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct, most recently on 2025-10-31. Same two letters. Different half of the year.

The year ends dey inside each issuer’s own filings, and for this group dem remain the same from one year to the next. Apple dey close on the last Saturday of September. Microsoft dey close on June 30. Walmart dey close on January 31, while Nvidia dey close on the last Sunday of January. Oracle dey close on May 31, and Costco on the Sunday wey dey closest to August 31. Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson dey run reach end of December, na the case wey most readers assume by default.

Annual report carry the same fingerprint. The panel below take the same nine issuers, match each ticker with the filer identifier wey appear on financial statements, then read the latest 10-K on file.

SELECT
    ticker,
    toString(max(filing_date))  AS latest_annual_report,
    monthName(max(filing_date)) AS filed_in,
    uniqExact(accession_number) AS annual_reports_on_file
FROM
(
    SELECT
        leftPad(toString(cik), 10, '0') AS filer_cik,
        filing_date,
        accession_number
    FROM global_markets.stocks_sec_edgar_index
    WHERE form_type = '10-K'
      AND filing_date >= toDate('2025-01-01')
      AND filing_date <  toDate('2026-07-01')
) AS annual
INNER JOIN
(
    SELECT
        ticker,
        argMax(leftPad(toString(cik), 10, '0'), period_end) AS filer_cik
    FROM
    (
        SELECT
            arrayJoin(tickers) AS ticker,
            cik,
            period_end
        FROM global_markets.stocks_income_statements
        WHERE period_end >= toDate('2023-07-01')
    )
    WHERE ticker IN ('AAPL', 'COST', 'HD', 'JNJ', 'KO', 'MSFT', 'NVDA', 'ORCL', 'WMT')
    GROUP BY ticker
) AS issuers USING (filer_cik)
GROUP BY ticker
ORDER BY ticker

AAPL file its latest annual report on 2025-10-31, for October. WMT file on 2026-03-13, for March. 10-K dey follow year end by 60 to 90 days, so filing month dey show the period wey the report cover.

How to read label like FY26 Q3

Read FY26 Q3 from outside enter. FY26 name the fiscal year. US issuers dey name fiscal year after the calendar year wey e end inside, so FY26 go finish sometime during 2026. For some other markets, including India, the label point to the year wey the period start, so na something to check for each issuer. Q3 na the third quarter of that fiscal year, counted from fiscal start, no be from January.

To turn the label into months, you need one more fact: the year end. For issuer wey fiscal year dey end in June, Q1 cover July to September, Q2 October to December, Q3 January to March, and Q4 April to June. For December-year issuer, fiscal quarters match calendar quarters.

Apple give clear example. Its fiscal year dey end on the last Saturday of September, so fiscal 2026 open in late September 2025. FY26 Q1 run reach late December 2025, the holiday quarter. FY26 Q2 run reach late March 2026, FY26 Q3 reach late June 2026, and FY26 Q4 go close in late September 2026. Add Q1 and Q2 together and you get this issuer’s H1: two quarters wey close and get reported before calendar year reach halfway.

Why H1 2026 no cover the same months for every issuer

Once year end move, everything wey depend on am move too. H1 revenue line, H1 margin and H1 headcount each dey measure the six months wey that issuer call its first half. Walmart’s H1 of fiscal 2026 cover February to July 2025. Microsoft’s H1 of fiscal 2026 cover July to December 2025. Apple own cover late September 2025 to late March 2026. Three issuers, three first halves. No two cover the same six months, and none be the calendar half.

Index-level and market-wide writing avoid the problem completely. Index no get fiscal year, so H1 2026 for market article mean calendar half, January 1 to June 30. Na that meaning wey dem use for our H1 2026 market recap, for the H1 2026 IPO market review, and for the Treasury curve through H1 2026. Na company filings need year-end check first. Shorter windows get the same issue in smaller form: how monthly returns dey measured cover the month-boundary version.

Interim reporting: quarterly for US, half yearly for plenty parts of the world

US-listed domestic issuers dey file quarterly report, Form 10-Q, for the first three fiscal quarters, and annual report, Form 10-K, after the fourth. Fourth-quarter 10-Q no dey exist. Annual report carry that period, na why people often quote company Q4 figure as full year minus the first three quarters.

Foreign private issuers wey list for US dey file annual report on Form 20-F, and dem no need file 10-Q at all. For European Union, transparency rules require annual report and half-yearly report. Dem remove mandatory quarterly requirement from Transparency Directive in 2013, and apply the change from late 2015. UK keep the same half-yearly baseline. Japan move the same way in 2024, replacing quarterly securities report with semiannual filing, while exchange still collect quarterly earnings summaries. For those markets, the half na the reporting unit itself, and H1 and H2 do most of the work wey Q1 reach Q4 do for US filings.

The forms show the split clearly. The panel below count three of them for calendar H1 2026: the 10-K annual report, the 10-Q quarterly report, and the 20-F, wey be annual report of foreign private issuer.

SELECT
    form_type,
    uniqExact(cik)              AS companies,
    uniqExact(accession_number) AS filings
FROM global_markets.stocks_sec_edgar_index
WHERE form_type IN ('10-K', '10-Q', '20-F')
  AND filing_date >= toDate('2026-01-01')
  AND filing_date <  toDate('2026-07-01')
GROUP BY form_type
ORDER BY form_type

5442 companies file at least one 10-Q during those six months, with 6001 reports between them. 5234 file 10-K. 750 file 20-F. Those issuers no file US quarterly report; their interim disclosure dey arrive on Form 6-K, based on the schedule wey their home market set.

For the dates wey a specific company actually publish, use its own filing calendar instead of rule of thumb. How to find stock earnings date explain the lookup.

FAQ

Wetin H1 mean for company reporting?

H1 na the first half of company reporting year, its first six months, and e contain fiscal Q1 and Q2. H1 equal January reach June only when company fiscal year start for January.

H1 always mean January reach June?

No. H1 follow fiscal year, no be calendar. For issuer wey fiscal year end for June, H1 dey run from July reach December. Index no get fiscal year, so for market recap H1 mean January reach June.

Wetin FY26 Q3 mean?

Na the third quarter of fiscal year wey dem label 2026. US issuers normally name fiscal year after calendar year wey e end inside, so FY26 Q3 for June-year company cover January to March 2026. Check issuer fiscal year end before you convert any FY label to months.

Why some companies dey report half yearly instead of quarterly?

Na their listing rules require am. US domestic issuers dey file quarterly on Form 10-Q, while EU and UK transparency regimes require annual and half-yearly report, with quarterly reporting optional. Company fit publish more often than its rules require.

Wetin be the difference between interim and annual reporting?

Interim reporting cover period shorter than full year, whether quarter or half, and e usually dey unaudited. Annual reporting cover the full fiscal year and carry audited financial statements.

Every panel for here come with the exact SQL underneath. Open one to see how dem count each fiscal period, or ask the same question in plain English on the Strasmore terminal.