HPS John Hancock Preferred Income Fund III

John Hancock Advisers Releases Portfolio Information for Closed-End Funds BOSTON, March 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- John Hancock Advisers, LLC announced today that portfolio information, such as performance, top-ten holdings and sector weightings, is available for its closed-end funds as of February 29, 2004. This information is available on John Hancock Funds' web site at http://www.jhfunds.com/. To order a hard copy of this information, call (800) 225-6020. Investors may also call John Hancock's automated closed-end funds information line, (800) 843-0090. John Hancock Patriot Premium Dividend Fund I (NYSE:PDF) John Hancock Patriot Premium Dividend Fund II (NYSE:PDT) John Hancock Patriot Select Dividend Trust (NYSE:DIV) John Hancock Patriot Global Dividend Fund (NYSE:PGD) John Hancock Patriot Preferred Dividend Fund (NYSE:PPF) John Hancock Preferred Income Fund (NYSE:HPI) John Hancock Preferred Income Fund II (NYSE:HPF) John Hancock Preferred Income Fund III (NYSE:HPS) John Hancock Investors Trust (NYSE:JHI) John Hancock Income Securities Trust (NYSE:JHS) John Hancock Financial Trends Fund (NASDAQ:JHFT) John Hancock Bank and Thrift Opportunity Fund (NYSE:BTO) John Hancock Advisers, LLC, a premier investment management company, managed $29.3 billion in open-end funds, closed-end funds, private accounts and retirement plans for individual and institutional investors as of December 31, 2003. John Hancock Advisers, LLC, is a wholly owned subsidiary ofJohn Hancock Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:JHF). John Hancock and its affiliated companies provide a broad array of insurance and investment products and services to retail and institutional customers. As of December 31, 2003, John Hancock FinancialServices and its subsidiaries had total assets under management of $142.5 billion. DATASOURCE: John Hancock Advisers, LLC CONTACT: Media Contact, Kimberley Dietrich, +1-617-375-0311, or Investor Contact, +1-800-843-0090, both of John Hancock Advisers, LLC

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