Mar. 21--Pier 1 Imports Inc. is adjusting its game plan and trying to get out of the New York Stock Exchange's penalty box.

The troubled Fort Worth-based home furnishings chain made a number of announcements Friday: It swung to a fourth-quarter net loss, has negotiated enough rent savings to close fewer stores than initially expected, shifted debt to a Hong Kong subsidiary and believes new rules give it more time to get its stock price out of delisting territory.

Before the company disclosed the flurry of updates, shares gained 1 cent to close at 16 cents.

Pier 1 stock has been trading below $1 since Nov. 17 and its market capitalization on Friday stood below $15 million, also putting it in danger of being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.

Earlier this month, the NYSE suspended until June 30 its requirement that companies maintain a $1 minimum price to keep their shares listed. It also changed through June the minimum market capitalization required for listed issues to $15 million from $25 million.

Even with the extensions, the NYSE can delist a company if it doesn't think cures are coming to get the price back above $1.

As of Friday, Pier 1 said it hasn't received notice that it is not in compliance with the minimum market capitalization required.

Since it hired a firm to help negotiate lower rents in February, Pier 1 said, it has achieved about $5 million in rent savings for this year.

As a result, it plans to close 80 stores instead of 125 this year. So far it's reached agreements in principle to terminate 14 store leases and decided to close two more stores where it couldn't get concessions. It ended the year with 1,092 stores.

It also said its Hong Kong subsidiary agreed to purchase $79 million of its convertible senior notes for $27 million.

That reduces its outstanding debt of $184 million to $105 million. Pier 1 ended the year with $156 million in cash.

Pier 1 usually releases fourth-quarter results in April, but on Friday it released unaudited preliminary results for the period ended Feb. 28. The company reported a net loss of $29 million, or 33 cents a share, as it aggressively cut prices during the holidays, compared with net income of $14 million, or 16 cents, for the same period last year.

Total fourth-quarter sales declined to $389 million from $437 million in the year-ago quarter. Same-store sales fell 9.7 percent. Pier 1 was struggling before the housing downturn hurt other home furnishings chains. CEO Alex Smith was brought in two years ago to turn the company around. He has added lower-priced merchandise and categories such as bath products and gift food baskets.

The company ended the year with $316 million in inventory, down from $412 million the previous year, and management said it will continue to take a conservative approach to merchandise purchases and expense planning.

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