GKN Q1 profit rises 22 pct

LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - British engineer GKN (Berlin: GKN.BE - news) reported a 22 percent jump in quarterly profit, helped by growth in demand for commercial aircraft and light vehicles, as it warned that later on in the year growth would be modest due to tougher comparatives.

The company, which makes parts for cars and planes, on Tuesday posted pretax profit of 145 million pounds ($242.7 million) in the first quarter, 22 percent higher than the 119 million pounds it made in the same period last year.

"Looking forward to the rest of the year, tougher prior year comparators mean that organic growth is likely to be more modest," GKN (LSE: GKN.L - news) 's chief executive Nigel Stein said in a statement. ($1 = 0.5976 British Pounds) (Reporting by Sarah Young, Editing by Paul Sandle)