Britain's FTSE supported by Pearson after it confirms FT sale talks

* FTSE 100 steady

* Investors digest mixed earnings reports

* Unilever (NYSE: UL - news) , Kingfisher (LSE: KGF.L - news) see improved sales

* Aberdeen Asset Management (Other OTC: ABDNF - news) hit as inflows fall (Recasts, adds detail, quotes,)

By Alistair Smout and Liisa Tuhkanen

LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index outperformed continental stock indices on Thursday, boosted by a rise in Pearson (Xetra: 858266 - news) after it confirmed that it was in advanced talks to sell FT Group.

British publisher Pearson has decided to sell the Financial Times to a "global, digital news company", a person familiar with the deal said, sending shares up 2 percent.

Britain's FTSE 100 was unchanged at 6,667.34 by 1132 GMT, outperforming slight declines on continental European bourses.

Mixed earnings reports were in focus. Unilever rose 2 percent, contributing nearly three points to the index after it reported higher-than-expected quarterly sales, driven by gains in its home and personal care units.

"Having raised our recommendation to Outperform relatively recently, we welcome a good set of results from Unilever," analysts at RBC (Other OTC: RBCI - news) said in a note reiterating its "Outperform" rating.

"First (Other OTC: FSTC - news) half results beat consensus expectations, albeit not by a lot, on all the important measures."

Kingfisher also gained on results, rising 1.5 percent after Europe's largest home improvements retailer posted stronger sales growth in both Britain and France in its latest quarter, helped by soft comparative figures in the previous year.

On the downside, Aberdeen Asset Management tumbled 8.4 percent to its lowest levels in over a year after the emerging markets-focused fund manager said it saw net outflows of 9.9 billion pounds ($15.5 billion) in the last quarter.

"Management blames 'market conditions and FX movements' and 'low margin outflows from certain fixed income products' for a large proportion of the decline," said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo.

"Furthermore, the outlook looks little to get excited about."

Among other top fallers, SSE (LSE: SSE.L - news) , Britain's second-biggest energy supplier, dropped 4.9 percent after saying it expected lower profits from its retail business this year.

Pharmaceutical firm Shire (Xetra: S7E.DE - news) erased initial gains and turned negative, down 2 percent after reporting results that missed earnings expectations.

The FTSE remained near two-week lows touched in the previous session after a poorly received earnings report from Apple (Swiss: AAPL.SW - news) hit tech stocks while weaker metals prices dragged down miners.

Chipmaker ARM Holdings was the top gainer on the blue-chip index on Thursday, up 3.5 percent as it recovered from the more than two-year lows hit on Wednesday after disappointing results from major customer Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) . (Editing by Clelia Oziel)