News/Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 22, 2004

Hancock Holding Company officers to present at Gulf South Bank Conference

GULFPORT, MS (April 22, 2004) - Monday, April 26, 2004, at 3:00 p.m. (CST), officers of Hancock Holding Company (NASDAQ: HBHC), parent company of Hancock Bank, will address financial analysts from across the nation attending the 8th annual Gulf South Bank Conference at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New Orleans, LA.

At the conference, Hancock Chief Executive Officer George A. Schloegel and Chief Financial Officer Carl J. Chaney will highlight the company's financial performance, corporate business strategies, and economic profiles of Hancock's Gulf South markets.

Investors may access a live, listen-only webcast of Schloegel and Chaney's comments by visiting www.hancockbank.com. The presentation will be archived and available for two weeks after the conference concludes.

Hancock Holding Company subscribes to the highest standards of corporate responsibility with respect to legal, moral, and regulatory relationships with shareholders, customers, employees, and communities Hancock serves. Accordingly, these unwavering business principles support a corporate culture of ethical compliance and accountability that ensures that financial statements are prepared and audited in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP). The Company's systems of internal controls and risk management processes are in place and fully functional.

Hancock Holding Company - parent company of Hancock Bank (Mississippi), Hancock Bank of Louisiana, Hancock Bank of Florida, and Magna Insurance Company - has assets of $4.366 billion at March 31, 2004. Founded in 1899, Hancock Bank stands among the strongest, safest five-star financial institutions in America. Hancock Bank operates 103 offices and more than 140 automated teller machines throughout South Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida 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 online 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

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