Pepsi Bottling Group Inc.'s (PBG) second-quarter profit rose 21% on a tax benefit, but the bottler's revenue missed Wall Street's estimates.

Analysts said the bottler's volumes were lower than they had expected amid tepid sales of pricier noncarbonated soft drinks. Sales of bottled water and more expensive offerings, like ready-to-drink teas, have weakened during the recession, putting pressure on the beverage companies and their bottlers. Pepsi Bottling shares were recently down 14 cents, or 0.42%, to 33.51.

On a conference call, company executives said they are seeing an improvement in sales of carbonated soft drinks in North America and that their markets appear to be stabilizing. The company's earnings, helped by the tax benefit, beat Wall Street's forecast.

The company was the subject of an acquisition bid by PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) in April, but the bottler has so far rejected PepsiCo's $29.50 a share offer, calling it inadequate. The rejection was widely seen as an effort to negotiate a higher price. PepsiCo, which already holds a 33% stake in the bottler, has maintained that its offer is fair. The bottler didn't offer further updates on the deal in its conference call.

Pepsi Bottling reported a second-quarter profit of $211 million, or 96 cents a share, up from $174 million, or 78 cents a share, from a year earlier. Excluding the tax benefit and other one-time charges, the company earned 78 cents in the recent quarter.

Revenue decreased 7% to $3.27 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently were looking for earnings of 73 cents a share and revenue of $3.45 billion.

"Most of the volume weakness in North America came from bottled water and teas," said John Faucher, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst.

Total case volume fell 4%. Pepsi Bottling expects to incur fees of $40 million to $60 million for external advisers on the PepsiCo bid.

The company said its 2009 earnings will be at the high end of its previous guidance of $2.30 to $2.40 a share. Pepsi Bottling plans to raise prices after Labor Day.

-By Anjali Cordeiro, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2200; anjali.cordeiro@dowjones.com

(Tess Stynes contributed to this article.)