GKN quarterly profit jumps 22 pct on autos, aerospace

* Q1 pretax profit rises to 145 mln stg

* CEO sees growth in rest of year more modest

* Shares up 2.5 pct (Adds analyst comment, share price)

LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - British engineering company GKN (Berlin: GKN.BE - news) reported a 22 percent jump in quarterly profit, helped by higher production of light vehicles and a buoyant aerospace market, and said it was on track to grow in line with its plans, boosting its shares.

GKN (LSE: GKN.L - news) made a pretax profit of 145 million pounds ($242.7 million) in the first quarter. It said growth would be more modest as the year went on because results had strengthened from the second quarter of 2013.

GKN shares rose 2.5 percent to 383 pence, propelling the car and plane parts maker to the top of Britain's blue-chip index , a day after nearing their lowest level in four months.

As demand for cars recovers in Europe, sales at GKN's car parts division rose 5 percent in the quarter, in line with the global growth rate in light vehicle production.

The business is GKN's largest, accounting for almost half of its revenue, and its customers include Volkswagen (Other OTC: VLKAF - news) , General Motors (NYSE: GM - news) and Ford.

Numis analyst David Larkam called GKN's automotive performance "very strong".

"If you look where the shares have come from, they were over 4 pounds, down to 370 pence-odd, so I think the market's looking at it, thinking we've over-reacted on the downside," he said.

GKN said currency headwinds, on which it warned in February, continued to affect it in the three months to the end of March. Group sales were 7 percent higher on an organic basis but were offset by a 6 percent adverse currency translation due to the strength of the pound against other currencies.

The company said in February it could cope with the impact of a weak dollar versus the pound.

"Looking forward to the rest of the year, tougher prior year comparators mean that organic growth is likely to be more modest," Chief Executive Nigel Stein said.

Last year, GKN's first-quarter performance was hit by a 23 million pound charge related to job cuts in Europe and Japan.

Stein said he continued to expect 2014 to be another year of growth, and that the outlook remained consistent with GKN's view in February, when it said its car parts business would grow faster than the anticipated 3 percent market expansion. ($1 = 0.5976 British Pounds) (Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Li-mei Hoang and Tom Pfeiffer)