News/Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 7, 2005

Hancock Holding Company to participate in Southeast bank symposium

     GULFPORT, MS (November 7, 2005) - Today, Monday, November 7, 2005 at 1:30 p.m. (CST), Hancock Holding Company (NASDAQ: HBHC) will participate in the Sterne Agee & Leach, Inc., Southeast Bank Symposium at the Ross Bridge Resort in Birmingham, AL.

At the symposium, Hancock CEO George A. Schloegel will participate in a panel discussion entitled "After the Storm: Banking in the Wake of Hurricanes."

Investors can access slides from the presentation from the Investor Relations link at www.hancockbank.com.

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 $4.91 billion as of September 30, 2005. Founded in 1899, Hancock Bank stands among the strongest, safest five-star financial institutions in America. Hancock Bank operates 104 Hancock full-service offices and more than 130 automated teller machines throughout South Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida as well as subsidiaries Hancock Investment Services, Inc., Hancock Insurance Agency, and Harrison Finance Company. Additional corporate information or online banking and bill pay services are also available 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, V.P., Investor Relations
800.522.6542 or 228.214.5242