Indices and treatment of businesses returning capital

PotentialEnergy

Hi
I have investment in Electra Private Equity Investment Trust. Over the last year it has returned substantial capital meaning the share price has plummeted from over £47 to about £18 and I believe a further return of capital will take place.
I like to compare my overall portfolio performance with that of the benchmarks like the FTSE All Share. But, this return of capital potentially distorts things a few %.
In the real FTSE indices, payments of dividends are ignored hence when several companies go ex-dividend on the same day, the index can be adversely affected. I.E. Share prices of the big players might fall 3% when they go ex-div. What effect does return of capital have? Is that similarly ignored or not? We could have an Electra Share price falling 80% :eek: this year courtesy of return of capital.
Thanks

grey_gym_sock

AFAICS, electra has paid some huge special dividends this year. even though they describe it as "return as capital", it is income for the purposes of tax. and i think indexes will follow the tax treatment, i.e. it will look like a huge loss of capital value.

there are also FTSE total return indexes, which include income - i.e. they measure the total return you'd get if you reinvested income. these are the better measures of performance, though they are much less widely quoted.