UKT
This is the ticker for conventional gilts, UKTI is the ticker for inflation-linked gilts.
The instrument
What is a Gilt?
Firstly, let us define what a bond is. A bond is a loan to a government or company, made in exchange for regular interest payments and repayment of a larger sum at maturity. The face value is the amount the holder receives on the maturity date. It is not the same as the market price, which is what someone pays to buy the bond. Those regular interest payments are the bond’s coupon.
What sets a bond apart from an ordinary loan is that it is designed to be traded after it is issued. If you buy a bond in the market, the issuer then owes you.
Bonds issued by the UK government are called gilts. The Debt Management Office (DMO), an arm of the UK government, issues them on behalf of the Treasury so the government can borrow. Most of the outstanding stock is in conventional gilts, where the amount repaid at maturity is fixed. There are also index-linked gilts, or linkers, where the amount repaid at maturity is tied to inflation: higher inflation means a higher repayment.
4.25%
This is the coupon, the percentage of the face value of the gilt paid each year, in two installments. On each £100 of face, that is £4.25 a year, £2.125 at a time.
7 March 2036
This is the maturity date at which the face value of the gilt will be repaid by the government to the holder.
We can understand gilts by looking at the cash flows. In the example below on 18 Sept 2026 we purchase £100 face value of the UKT 4.25% 7-Mar-2027 gilt at the market price of £92.55. The coupon is a percentage of the face value paid in two installments a year. This continues until the gilt matures on 7 Mar 2036 when receive both the coupon and the face value of the gilt. Paying less than the face value, while still receiving the coupons and the £100 back, is how the buyer earns more than the 4.25% coupon.
↓ 18 September 2026
You pay £92.55 for each £100 of face value.
↑ 7 March and 7 September
Coupon, £2.125 each time. The line shows the first two. The same coupon continues twice a year until maturity.
↑ 7 March 2036
The last coupon, £2.125, and the principal, £100.
Below we can see the information for the actual UKT 4.25% Mar 2036 conventional gilt, and an inflation-linked gilt maturing in 2035.
Conventional gilt
4¼% Treasury 2036
TickerUKT 4.25 07 Mar 36
ISINGB0032452392
Coupon4.25% a year
Paidtwice a year, in cash
Maturity7 March 2036
Repays£100 for each £100 face
In issue£32.4bn nominal
Index-linked gilt
1⅛% Index-linked 2035
TickerUKTI 1.125 22 Sep 35
ISINGB00BT7HZZ68
Coupon1.125% real
Paidtwice a year, uplifted with RPI
Maturity22 September 2035
Repays£100, uplifted with RPI
In issue£17.3bn, £18.1bn uplifted
Amounts in issue are nominal, from the gilt list dated 20 May 2026. The ticker is the form used on dealing screens. It is not a stock-exchange code. As you can see, a gilt on it's own is not particularly complicated.