CORRECTING AND REPLACING John Hancock Preferred Income Fund III Declares Monthly Dividend.

Business Editors

CORRECTION...by John Hancock Preferred Income Fund III

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1, 2003

In BW5766 issued Oct. 1, 2003: Record Date should read: October 14, 2003 (sted: October 13, 2003)

The corrected release reads:

JOHN HANCOCK PREFERRED INCOME FUND III DECLARES MONTHLY DIVIDEND

John Hancock Preferred Income Fund III (NYSE: HPS) declared its regular monthly dividend as follows:

Declaration Date: October 1, 2003

Ex Date: October 9, 2003

Record Date: October 14, 2003

Payment Date: November 3, 2003

Dividend Amount: $0.1800

This dividend equates to an annualized yield of 9.07 percent, based on the fund's closing market price as of September 30, 2003.

John Hancock Advisers, LLC, a premier investment management company, managed $27.5 billion in open-end funds, closed-end funds, private accounts and retirement plans for individual and institutional investors as of June 30, 2003.

John Hancock Advisers, LLC, is a wholly owned subsidiary of John 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 June 30, 2003, John Hancock Financial Services and its subsidiaries had total assets under management of $139.7 billion.