DAVENPORT, Iowa - Lee Enterprises Inc. said Wednesday it has fallen below the New York Stock Exchange's standards for listing, but the company will notify the exchange of plans to return to compliance.

The Davenport-based publisher of 49 daily newspapers, including the Gazette-Times, said it has failed to maintain the NYSE requirement of a minimum average closing price of $1 per share over a consecutive 30-day trading period.

Lee shares were trading at 41 cents a share on Wednesday. They sank below the $1 mark on Nov. 25 but rebounded slightly. They haven't traded above $1 since Dec. 2. Shares have traded in a 52-week range of 30 cents to $14.91.

The company said it received a letter Dec. 30 noting it also was nearing noncompliance with the exchange's market capitalization standard, which requires a 30-day average of $25 million.

The company's capitalization on Wednesday was $16 million.

Lee said in a statement it plans to notify the exchange within 10 business days of its plans to return to compliance.

Under NYSE rules related to the average share price, Lee common stock is allowed to continue to be listed on the exchange during a six-month cure period. Suspension and delisting procedures could begin sooner if other standards, such as the $25 million average market capitalization, are not met.

The LEE stock symbol will be assigned a ".BC'' indicator to denote that the company is below compliance with listing standards, the company said.

Lee newspapers also include the Albany Democrat-Herald and Coos Bay World in Oregon, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in Missouri, the Lincoln Journal Star in Nebraska, the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, Wis., and the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa.