What is the meaning of consolidated vs standalone results of a company?

I have seen a few websites which seem to suggest that

standalone results = results of the parent company alone &

consolidated results = results of the parent company + its subsidiaries (but the question is - does it also include the parent companies associate/affiliate?).

Next, the question is how does the word subsidiary differ from affiliate/associate?

This is beautifully explained by the following example (What are the differences between affiliate, associate and subsidiary companies?)

"For example, the Walt Disney Corporation owns about a 40% stake in the History Channel, an 80% stake in ESPN and a 100% interest in the Disney Channel. In this case, the History Channel is an affiliate company, ESPN is a subsidiary and the Disney Channel is a wholly owned subsidiary company."
That is;

"In most cases, the terms affiliate and associate are used synonymously to describe a company whose parent only possesses a minority stake in the ownership of the company. A subsidiary, on the other hand, is a company whose parent is a majority shareholder."

A practical example,

Consolidated net profits for tata motors FY11 (9274 Crores) %Change - 261% increase from previous year.

Standalone net profits for tata motors FY11 (1812) %Change - 19% decrease from previous year.

How does an investor interpret these statements - "that tata motors is depending a lot on its subsidiaries for its profits? (especially on Jaguar-Land rover)"

Is that good or bad?

A business is less valuable if it is owned indirectly (via a holding company).

That is why holding companies trade at a huge discount to their asset values.

As Tata Motors now depends a lot on its subsidiaries for revenues and profits, investors won't give it the same valuation that they would have given if it were a standalone company.

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I was going through how the accounting is done for a newly consolidated company (a company which has acquired subsidaries by buying shares) as opposed to its previous standalone status and have stumbled onto this very good and simple explanation
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/...cm4-221267.pdf
- arcus.