Net capital expenditure (capital expenditure less proceeds from asset disposals) for the period was £31.0m (H1 2017: £29.1m). The multiple of net capital expenditure to depreciation was 1.0 times (H1 2017: 1.0 times). Slightly more than half of the capital expenditure was on growth investment projects, including investment in incremental capacity for Specialist Technologies (notably HIP Services, S3P and LPC), expenditure on several new facilities and investments in capacity and technology expansion in a number of existing locations.

The Group continues to invest in maintaining its assets to a high quality.