# Capital expenditure

> Cash a company paid in a period for property, plant and equipment, from the investing section of the cash flow statement.

Updated Oct 17, 2026.

Capital expenditure (capex) is the cash a company paid in a period to buy or build long-lived physical assets: buildings, machinery, data centres, stores, vehicles. It appears in the investing section of the cash flow statement.

## How Listed shows it

As reported, from the line for purchases of property, plant and equipment: `PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment`, or `PurchaseOfPropertyPlantAndEquipmentClassifiedAsInvestingActivities` for IFRS filers. The XBRL fact records the payment as a positive amount, and Listed shows it that way: money spent. Quarterly figures are derived from year-to-date figures, as for [operating cash flow](/glossary/operating-cash-flow).

## What it leaves out

- Buying whole businesses (acquisitions), which is a separate investing line.
- Software and other intangible assets, when the company reports them on their own line.
- Assets taken on under leases, which involve no cash payment at the start.

So a company that capitalizes a lot of software on a separate line, or leases most of its assets, shows lower capex here than its spending on long-lived assets would suggest.

## When it says "not reported"

The company reports its spending under a different concept, such as a combined line for property and intangible assets, or one of its own.

## Related terms

- [Free cash flow](/glossary/free-cash-flow.md)
- [Operating cash flow](/glossary/operating-cash-flow.md)
- [TTM](/glossary/ttm.md)

All terms: [/glossary.md](/glossary.md)