Hancock Holding Company to Announce Third Quarter Earnings

Executives of Hancock Holding Company (Nasdaq:HBHC) today announced that the company will release third quarter 2009 earnings results after the market close on Tuesday, October 20, 2009.

Hancock Holding Company -- parent company of Hancock Bank of Louisiana, Hancock Bank Mississippi, Hancock Bank of Alabama, and Hancock Bank of Florida -- has assets of approximately $7.05 billion. Recently ranked among America's Top 10 Best Banks and as one of the nation's 100 Most Trustworthy Companies, Hancock Bank, founded in 1899, consistently rates among the strongest, safest banks in the United States.

Hancock operates 157 banking and financial services offices, 137 ATMs along the I-10 corridor spanning south central Louisiana, coastal Mississippi, southern Alabama, and north Florida. Bank subsidiaries include Hancock Investment Services, Inc., Hancock Insurance Agency and its divisions of Ross King Walker and J. Everett Eaves, and Harrison Finance Company.

More corporate information is available at www.hancockbank.com.

The Hancock Holding Company logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2758

"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.

This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com

SOURCE: Hancock Holding Company

CONTACT:  Hancock Holding Company
Carl J. Chaney, President & Chief Executive Officer
Michael M. Achary, Chief Financial Officer
Paul D. Guichet, V.P., Investor Relations
800.522.6542
228.563.6559

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