Furniture Brands International has announced a 1-for-7 reverse stock split that takes effect at 4:45 p.m. Eastern time today, May 28.

Every seven shares of issued and outstanding common stock will be combined into one share without any change in the par value per share, the company said. The stock will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis when the market opens on Wednesday.

The company's shares were priced at about 98 cents Tuesday morning, and at that price each post-split share would be valued at $6.86.

On a pre-split basis, the company said it has about 56.4 million shares of common stock outstanding. This will be reduced to about eight million shares after the split.

No fractional shares will be issued in connection with the reverse stock split. The company's transfer agent will aggregate all fractional shares and those shares will be sold into the market. Owners of those shares will receive a cash payment from the proceeds of that sale in lieu of the fractional shares.

The reverse split, approved by the company's shareholders May 2, is intended partly to keep the per share price above $1 and help preserve Furniture Brands' New York Stock Exchange listing. NYSE rules require a company's stock price to be at least $1 per share for 30 consecutive trading days.

The company has also said a reverse stock split also could make the stock more attractive to institutional investors and reduce stock price volatility.