News/Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2005

Hancock Holding Company announces quarterly dividend

     GULFPORT, MS (May 19, 2005) - Hancock Holding Company (NASDAQ: HBHC) today announced that the company's board of directors approved a regular second quarter 2005 common stock cash dividend of $0.165 per share.

     Approved during the May meeting of the company's board of directors, the regular quarterly common stock cash dividend is payable June 15, 2005, to shareholders of record as of June 3, 2005.

     Hancock Holding Company - the parent company of Hancock Bank (Mississippi), Hancock Bank of Louisiana, Hancock Bank of Florida, and Magna Insurance Company - has assets of $4.8 billion. Founded in 1899, Hancock Bank stands among the strongest, safest five-star financial institutions in America. Hancock Bank operates 102 offices and more than 140 automated teller machines throughout South Mississippi, Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle as well as subsidiaries Hancock Investment Services, Inc., Hancock Insurance Agency, and Harrison Finance Company.

Investors can access additional corporate information or on-line banking and bill pay services.

"SAFE HARBOR" STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: Congress passed the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995 in an effort to encourage corporations to provide information about companies' anticipated future financial performance. This act provides a safe harbor for such disclosure, which protects the companies from unwarranted litigation if actual results are different from management expectations. This release contains forward-looking statements and reflects management's current views and estimates of future economic circumstances, industry conditions, Company performance, and financial results. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties which could cause the Company's actual results and experience to differ from the anticipated results and expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION
George A. Schloegel, Chief Executive Officer
Carl J. Chaney, Chief Financial Officer
Paul D. Guichet, VP, Investor Relations
800.522.6542 or 228.214.5242