* FTSE 100 steady
* Investors digest mixed earnings reports
* Unilever, Kingfisher see improved sales
* Aberdeen Asset Management hit as inflows fall (Recasts, adds detail, quotes,)
By Alistair Smout and Liisa Tuhkanen
LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - Britain's top share indexoutperformed continental stock indices on Thursday, boosted by arise in Pearson after it confirmed that it was inadvanced talks to sell FT Group.
British publisher Pearson has decided to sell the FinancialTimes to a "global, digital news company", a person familiarwith the deal said, sending shares up 2 percent.
Britain's FTSE 100 was unchanged at 6,667.34 by 1132GMT, outperforming slight declines on continental Europeanbourses.
Mixed earnings reports were in focus. Unilever rose2 percent, contributing nearly three points to the index afterit reported higher-than-expected quarterly sales, driven bygains in its home and personal care units.
"Having raised our recommendation to Outperform relativelyrecently, we welcome a good set of results from Unilever,"analysts at RBC said in a note reiterating its "Outperform"rating.
"First half results beat consensus expectations, albeit notby a lot, on all the important measures."
Kingfisher also gained on results, rising 1.5percent after Europe's largest home improvements retailer postedstronger sales growth in both Britain and France in its latestquarter, helped by soft comparative figures in the previousyear.
On the downside, Aberdeen Asset Management tumbled8.4 percent to its lowest levels in over a year after theemerging markets-focused fund manager said it saw net outflowsof 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 alarge proportion of the decline," said Mike van Dulken, head ofresearch at Accendo.
"Furthermore, the outlook looks little to get excitedabout."
Among other top fallers, SSE, Britain'ssecond-biggest energy supplier, dropped 4.9 percent after sayingit expected lower profits from its retail business this year.
Pharmaceutical firm Shire erased initial gains andturned negative, down 2 percent after reporting results thatmissed earnings expectations.
The FTSE remained near two-week lows touched in the previoussession after a poorly received earnings report from Apple hit tech stocks while weaker metals prices dragged downminers.
Chipmaker ARM Holdings was the top gainer on theblue-chip index on Thursday, up 3.5 percent as it recovered fromthe more than two-year lows hit on Wednesday after disappointingresults from major customer Apple. (Editing by Clelia Oziel)
Kingfisher (KGF)
