Hancock Holding Company announces 9 percent increase in quarterly dividend

GULFPORT, MS (February 23, 2004) - Hancock Holding Company (NASDAQ: HBHC) today announced that the company's board of directors approved a regular first quarter 2004 common stock cash dividend of $0.25 per share - an increase of $.02 per common share, or 9 percent.

Approved during a special February meeting of the company's board of directors, the regular quarterly common stock cash dividend is payable March 15, 2004, to shareholders of record as of March 5, 2004.

In commenting on Hancock's increased level of common dividends, Hancock Holding Company Chief Executive Officer George A. Schloegel stated, "Hancock is pleased to announce this increase in the company's common dividend because it continues our record of enhancing shareholder value."

Hancock increased its common dividend per share twice in 2003. The first increase on February 27, 2003, was $0.01, or 5 percent, from $0.20 to $0.21. The common dividend was also increased on August 14, 2003 by $0.02, or 10 percent, from $0.21 to $0.23.

Hancock Holding Company - the parent company of Hancock Bank Mississippi and Hancock Bank of Louisiana - has assets of $4.2 billion. One-hundred-five-year-old Hancock Bank ranks among the top 4.6 percent of America's financial institutions for financial strength and stability, according to Veribanc, Inc., and has received a BauerFinancial, Inc., five-star superior rating (the highest rating possible) for the past 36 consecutive quarters. Hancock Bank operates 102 full-service offices and more than 140 automated teller machines throughout South Mississippi and Louisiana as well as subsidiaries Hancock Investment Services, Inc., Hancock Insurance Agency, Hancock Mortgage Corporation, Magna Insurance Company, 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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