Capex intensity
How much you must invest in assets for every euro of revenue.
01 What it is
Why anyone looks at this number
How much you must invest in assets for every euro of revenue.
It is the difference between profit and cash you can actually use, and it sets how much growth costs up front.
02 The formula
How it is worked out
Capex intensity = capital_expenditure ÷ net_revenue grain : year × entity unit : percentage source : Asset accounting and project systems
Tag each project as maintenance or growth at approval. Reconstructing the split afterwards is guesswork, and it is exactly the split a board and a buyer will ask for.
03 Worked example
The same number, with real inputs
| Capex | €2.6m |
| Net revenue | €50.0m |
| Calculation | 2.6 ÷ 50.0 |
| Result | 5.2% |
Just over five cents of every revenue euro goes back into assets. If depreciation is 6.4% of revenue, you are currently investing less than you are consuming.
04 What moves it
Four things that actually change this number
Asset age
Old assets need more maintenance capex, and the bill arrives all at once.
Growth plans
New capacity, new sites, new systems.
Technology choice
Owning versus renting capacity moves spend between capex and opex.
Regulation
Safety and environmental requirements are non-negotiable capex.
05 Where the number lives
The system, the record and the fields
| System of record | Key record | Fields you need |
|---|---|---|
| Asset accounting and project systems | Asset and Project (WBS element) | additions, in_service_date, maintenance_or_growth_flag, disposals |
Tag each project as maintenance or growth at approval. Reconstructing the split afterwards is guesswork, and it is exactly the split a board and a buyer will ask for.
06 How it goes wrong
Three ways this metric misleads people
Not splitting maintenance from growth
Total capex tells you nothing about what is optional.
Fix: Tag at approval, and report the two lines separately.Comparing across industries
A software business at 2% and a manufacturer at 8% are not comparable in any useful way.
Fix: Compare within the sector, and against your own depreciation.Ignoring the depreciation comparison
Investing below depreciation for years quietly ages the asset base.
Fix: Track capex to depreciation as its own ratio.08 Questions
Frequently asked
What is maintenance capex?
The spend needed to keep the current business running at its current capability. It is the honest baseline for free cash flow, and it is almost always understated.
Does moving to cloud reduce capex intensity?
It moves spend from capex to opex. Cash still leaves the business, so read the change alongside operating margin rather than treating it as a saving.
One definition, everywhere it is used
SCIKIQ stores this metric once and serves it to every dashboard, board pack and agent that asks.