Capital Expenditure Calculator
Annual capex spend and intensity.
Calculate capital expenditure from PP&E change and depreciation, plus capex intensity as a percentage of revenue for sector comparison.
What this tool does
Capital expenditure for a period equals the change in property, plant, and equipment plus depreciation taken during the period. This calculator takes your opening and closing PP&E balances, depreciation expense, and revenue to compute two outputs: the total capital expenditure spent and capex intensity, expressed as a percentage of revenue. Capex intensity shows how much of each unit of revenue is being reinvested in fixed assets. The calculation is driven primarily by the difference between your opening and closing PP&E balances and the depreciation figure. This is useful for comparing capital intensity across reporting periods or between different businesses. Note that the result reflects historical accounting data and does not account for asset disposals, revaluations, or non-cash adjustments beyond depreciation.
Enter Values
People also use
Income
Depreciation Calculator
Calculate straight-line depreciation with annual and monthly amounts from asset cost, salvage value, and useful life in years.
Business & Startup
Free Cash Flow Calculator
Calculate free cash flow from revenue, operating costs, taxes, and capex — the cash a business actually has left after running and maintaining itself.
Business & Startup
Airbnb Host Profit Calculator
Calculate Airbnb host profit by entering your nightly rate, occupancy, fees, cleaning costs, mortgage, and expenses to see monthly and annual net profit.
Formula Used
Spotted something off?
Calculations or display — let us know.
Disclaimer
Results are estimates for educational purposes only. They do not constitute financial advice. Consult a qualified professional before making financial decisions.
Capex is the cash a business spends on long-term physical assets: buildings, machinery, vehicles, IT infrastructure. Calculate it as current PP&E minus previous PP&E plus depreciation (which reduced the book value). Capex intensity - capex as percentage of revenue - tells you whether the business is asset-light (under 3%) or asset-heavy (15%+).
Current PP&E 8M, previous 6M, depreciation 1.5M = capex of 3.5M. On 30M revenue, that's 11.7% capex intensity - typical of industrial manufacturing. Software and consulting businesses usually show 1-3% intensity (servers, laptops); utilities and telecom 15-25% (infrastructure-heavy).
Maintenance capex (just keeping the existing business running) is often 60-80% of total capex. Growth capex (expanding capacity) is the balance. Separating the two is critical: 5M maintenance capex on a 50M revenue business isn't growth investment - it's the cost of running the existing machinery. Investors reward growth capex much more than maintenance.
Run it with sensible defaults
Using current pp&e of 8,000,000, previous pp&e of 6,000,000, depreciation of 1,500,000, revenue of 30,000,000, the calculation works out to 3,500,000.00. The defaults are meant as a starting point, not a recommendation.
The levers in this calculation
The inputs — Current PP&E (end), Previous PP&E (start), Depreciation (period), and Revenue (for intensity) — do not pull with equal force. Not every input has equal weight. Adjusting one input at a time toward extreme values shows which ones move the result most.
How the math works
Capex = current PP&E - previous PP&E + depreciation. Intensity = capex ÷ revenue × 100.
What to do with a low result
A disappointing result is information, not a judgement. Pick the single input that dragged the figure down most and focus the next quarter on that one factor. Breadth-first improvement rarely works; depth-first on the worst input usually does.
What this doesn't capture
The score is a composite of the inputs you provide. Life context — job security, family obligations, health, housing — doesn't appear in the math but shapes the real picture. Use the number as a prompt, not a verdict.
££8,000,000 current PP&E - ££6,000,000 prior + ££1,500,000 depreciation = 3,500,000.00.
Inputs
This example uses typical values for illustration. Adjust the inputs above to match a specific situation and see how the result changes.
Sources & Methodology
Methodology
This calculator computes capital expenditure by taking the change in property, plant and equipment between two periods and adding back depreciation expense. Specifically, it subtracts the opening balance of PP&E from the closing balance, then adds the depreciation recorded during the period. This reverses the non-cash depreciation charge to isolate the actual cash or accrual-basis investment in fixed assets. The calculator then derives capital intensity by dividing the computed capex figure by total revenue and expressing the result as a percentage. The model assumes depreciation is recorded on a straight-line or consistent basis and that PP&E movements reflect only capex and depreciation, not asset disposals, revaluations, or foreign exchange effects. It does not adjust for inflation, asset useful lives, or differences in accounting policies between periods.
References
Frequently Asked Questions
Why add back depreciation?
Maintenance vs growth capex?
What's a good capex intensity?
Does this include acquisitions?
Related Calculators
Depreciation Calculator
Calculate straight-line depreciation with annual and monthly amounts from asset cost, salvage value, and useful life in years.
Free Cash Flow Calculator
Calculate free cash flow from revenue, operating costs, taxes, and capex — the cash a business actually has left after running and maintaining itself.
Airbnb Host Profit Calculator
Calculate Airbnb host profit by entering your nightly rate, occupancy, fees, cleaning costs, mortgage, and expenses to see monthly and annual net profit.
More Business & Startup Calculators
Business & Startup
Accounts Payable Turnover Calculator
Calculate accounts payable turnover and days payable outstanding from supplier purchases and average AP. Free educational tool.
Business & Startup
Accounts Receivable Turnover Calculator
Calculate accounts receivable turnover and days sales outstanding from credit sales and average AR — how fast your invoices actually convert.
Business & Startup
Adjusted EBITDA Calculator
Calculate adjusted EBITDA with add-backs for owner compensation, one-off costs, and non-recurring items — the version a buyer or lender will actually use.
Business & Startup
Airbnb Host Profit Calculator
Calculate Airbnb host profit by entering your nightly rate, occupancy, fees, cleaning costs, mortgage, and expenses to see monthly and annual net profit.
Business & Startup
Asset Turnover Calculator
Calculate asset turnover ratio from revenue and total assets — a measure of how efficiently a business generates sales from its asset base.
Business & Startup
Break-Even Calculator
Calculate break-even point. Enter fixed costs, selling price, and variable cost to see units needed to cover costs. Free and educational.
Explore Other Financial Tools
Major Purchases
Boat Ownership Cost Calculator
Calculate boat ownership costs including mooring, insurance, fuel, maintenance, and depreciation to estimate annual and lifetime totals.
B2B Insurance
Life Insurance Calculator
Calculate life insurance coverage needed based on income replacement and financial obligations. Enter income replacement years to compare deductible impact.
Startup & VC
Exit Proceeds Calculator
Calculate net exit proceeds from ownership percentage, valuation, liquidation preferences ahead of you, and applicable tax.