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Beverage bottler Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. (PBG) said Tuesday its fourth-quarter earnings fell 39% on restructuring costs and other items, but sales and adjusted profit topped Wall Street expectations.

Net income fell to $81 million, or $0.35 per share, from $133 million, or $0.55 cents per share, a year ago, which included a $0.22 per share tax gain. Excluding $11 million of restructuring, tax and other costs, Pepsi Bottling earned $0.39 cents per share in the latest period.

Revenue climbed to $4.04 billion from $3.77 billion in the 2006 quarter.

The results topped estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, who predicted profit of $0.38 per share on revenue of $4.03 billion.

Pepsi Bottling said total worldwide physical case volume for the fourth quarter was flat. In the US, physical case volume was flat, with take home volume up 1% and cold drinks down 3%.

In Mexico, volume was down 2%, with declines in carbonated soft drink and jug water volume offset by strong bottled water and non-carbonated beverage growth.

In Europe, volume declined 1% for the quarter, as strong volume growth of 11% in Russia was offset by softness in Spain and Turkey.

For the year, earnings edged up to $532 million, or $2.29 per share, from $522 million, or $2.16 per share, a year ago. Revenue climbed 7% to $13.59 billion from $12.73 billion last year.

In 2008, PBG expects to post operating profit of $2.30 to $2.38 per share, and revenue growth of 6 percent to 7 percent, implying sales of $14.41 billion to $14.54 billion.

Analysts are forecasting earnings of $2.40 per share on sales of $14.41 billion.