National Express targets new European, Middle East markets for growth

* FY op profit up 15.5 percent to 193.5 million pounds

* Total (Swiss: FP.SW - news) div up 10 percent to 11.33p

* Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) up more than 7 percent (Adds detail, background, analyst comment, share price)

By Sarah Young

LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - British transport group National Express (NYSE: EXPR - news) is targeting contracts in Europe and the Middle East to help drive growth in 2016, it said on Thursday after reporting a jump in profit as its geographic diversity helped it outperform rivals.

Shares in the company climbed 7.6 percent to 317.9 pence, returning to a level last seen in January.

Liberum analyst Gerald Khoo, who rates the stock a "buy", said National Express (LSE: NEX.L - news) stood out over some of the other London-listed transport operators given its lower exposure to Britain.

"We continue to favour the group's geographic diversity, not least because it diversifies political risk," Khoo said.

Over the last three months, two British transport companies with a larger exposure to their home market have downgraded their profit forecasts.

Stagecoach in December blamed the impact of deadly attacks in Paris deterring travel to cities for its warning, while FirstGroup (LSE: FGP.L - news) said in January it had been affected by wet weather and floods in northern England, which prevented travel.

National Express, which runs coach services in Spain and Morocco, commuter trains in London and school buses in North America, said it saw opportunities in new markets after establishing services in Bahrain and Germany last year.

"We believe there are further growth opportunities within Morocco, the Middle East and German rail, and we will remain active in all these markets," the company said in a statement.

For 2015, National Express posted a 15.5 percent rise in operating profit to 193.5 million pounds ($269 million), beating a consensus forecast, with a boost from its ALSA European coach division which carried a record number of passengers.

Confidence in continued growth this year, a period when National Express said it expected all divisions to perform well, helped underpin a 10 percent hike in its annual payout to 11.33p per share, it added. ($1 = 0.7186 pounds) (Editing by Paul Sandle and David Holmes)