Meggitt maintains 2016 growth forecast, M&A hopes send shares surging

* Sticks to forecast for low-single digit organic sales growth

* Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) gain 11 pct (Adds background, analyst comment, share price)

LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - British engineering company Meggitt (Other OTC: MEGGF - news) maintained its forecast for modest revenue growth this year, underpinning its stock price which soared on takeover speculation on Tuesday.

Shares in the company, which issued a surprise profit warning in October and dropped out of Britain's blue-chip FTSE 100 share index in December, had jumped 11.3 percent by 1355.

Meggitt, whose wheels, brakes and electronic systems are used in commercial and military planes, has in recent years been mooted by analysts as a possible takeover target for a larger U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . aerospace supplier such as United Technologies. A media report on Tuesday quoted Meggitt's CEO as saying he would consider an offer if it was high enough.

In an indication of appetite for consolidation in the aerospace component sector, United Technologies revealed on Monday that it had held merger talks with rival component maker Honeywell International.

Meggitt's shares rose to 430 pence, although they remain some way below their Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) . 27 close of 460 pence, the day before the company warned that 2015 profits would be "meaningfully" below forecasts. The profit warning wiped off a fifth of the company's value.

Meggitt blamed the fourth-quarter downgrade on the deterioration of demand for some high-margin spare parts as the market was flooded with components from planes being retired.

For 2016, the company stuck to a forecast made in December for low-single digit percentage points organic revenue growth, helped by demand for components it supplies to new aircraft frames, and a return to growth in military markets. That will offset continued weakness in its energy unit which supplies valves to oil and gas firms.

RBC (Other OTC: RBCI - news) analysts said Meggitt had had a good end to 2015.

"A decent result from Meggitt given the slight margin beat and a lack of further negative commentary," they said.

The company posted full-year underlying operating profit of 325.5 million pounds ($459 million), a 6 percent fall on the previous year, and broadly in line with a company-supplied consensus forecast of 327 million pounds.

Meggitt, which generates 90 percent of its revenue from outside Britain, shrugged off concerns about the impact of its home-country leaving the EU ahead of a vote on whether to leave the bloc on June 23.

"We think it would be relatively neutral in terms of impact on the business," Meggitt's chief executive Stephen Young said when asked about a so-called 'Brexit'on Tuesday.

However, the company's chairman Nigel Rudd signed a letter to the Times newspaper alongside 200 companies saying leaving the European Union would put the British economy at risk. ($1 = 0.7088 pounds) (Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Susan Fenton)