News/Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 9, 2003

Hancock Holding Company announces quarterly dividend

GULFPORT, MS (May 9, 2003) - Hancock Holding Company (NASDAQ: HBHC) today announced that the company's board of directors approved a regular second quarter 2003 common stock cash dividend of $0.21 per share.

Approved during the company's regular May 2003 board of directors meeting, the regular quarterly common stock cash dividend is payable June 16, 2003, to shareholders of record as of June 6, 2003. Additionally, the board approved a Hancock convertible preferred stock cash dividend of $0.40 per share. The quarterly preferred stock cash dividend is payable June 30, 2003, to Hancock Holding Company convertible preferred stock shareholders of record as of June 20, 2003.

Hancock Holding Company - parent company of Hancock Bank (Mississippi) and Hancock Bank of Louisiana - has assets over $4 billion. Founded in 1899, Hancock Bank stands among the strongest, safest five-star financial institutions in America. Hancock Bank operates 104 full-service offices and over 140 automated teller machines throughout South Mississippi and Louisiana as well as subsidiaries Hancock Investment Services, Inc., Hancock Insurance Agency, Hancock Mortgage Corporation, and Harrison Finance Company.

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

"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, Vice President, Investor Relations
800.522.6542 or 228.214.5242