BTO John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund

John Hancock Bank and Thrift Opportunity Fund Declares Quarterly Managed Distribution BOSTON, June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- John Hancock Bank and Thrift Opportunity Fund (NYSE:BTO) declared its quarterly managed distribution today as follows: Declaration date: June 4, 2004 Ex-dividend date: June 10, 2004 Record date: June 14, 2004 Payment date: June 30, 2004 Source of Distribution Per Share Long-term capital gain $0.27000 John Hancock Advisers, LLC, a premier investment management company, managed $30.2 billion in open-end funds, closed-end funds, private accounts and retirement plans for individual and institutional investors as of March 31, 2004. Additional information about John Hancock Advisers can be found on the website: http://www.jhfunds.com/. John Hancock Advisers is a wholly owned subsidiary of John Hancock Financial Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corporation. Founded in 1862, John Hancock Financial Services and its subsidiaries today offer a broad range of financial products and services, including whole, term, variable, and universal life insurance, as well as college savings products, mutual funds, fixed and variable annuities, long-term care insurance and various forms of business insurance. Manulife Financial is the fifth largest life insurer in the world, and the second largest in North America, based on market capitalization as of April 27, 2004. Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of customers in 19 countries and territories worldwide. Pro forma funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries, including John Hancock, were US$271.6 billion (Cdn$355.9 billion) as of March 31, 2004. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '0945' on the SEHK. DATASOURCE: John Hancock Bank and Thrift Opportunity Fund CONTACT: Kimberley Dietrich, +1-617-375-0311, or Investor Contact, +1-800-843-0090, both of John Hancock Advisers, LLC

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