Exhibit 99.1


                                  NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                          FOR MORE INFORMATION,
MARCH 4, 2004                                   CONTACT:  ROBERT L. SCHUMACHER
                                                          AT (276) 326-9000


                FIRST COMMUNITY BANCSHARES, INC. (FCBC) DECLARES
                             FIRST QUARTER DIVIDEND


BLUEFIELD, VIRGINIA - The Board of Directors of First Community Bancshares, Inc.
(Nasdaq: FCBC; www.fcbinc.com) recently declared its First Quarter dividend to
stockholders. The dividend, in the amount of $0.25 per common share, represents
an increase of 4.17% over the $0.24 per common share paid in the First Quarter
of 2003. The increase is indicative of continued strong earnings by the Company
and its subsidiary bank, First Community Bank, N. A. The First Quarter dividend
is payable to stockholders of record March 15, 2004, and is expected to be paid
on or about March 29, 2004. The First Quarter dividend, when annualized,
represents a yield on the $32.19 March 3, 2004 closing price of approximately
3.11%.

         First Community Bancshares, Inc. is a $1.7 billion bank holding company
with headquarters in Bluefield, Virginia and the Parent of First Community Bank,
N. A. First Community Bank, N. A. operates with 47 full-service branches
throughout Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina and two trust and
investment management offices.

                                   -- MORE --





         First Community Bank, N. A. also owns United First Mortgage, Inc.,
based in Richmond, Virginia, which operates 9 offices from Virginia Beach to
Harrisonburg, Virginia, as well as Stone Capital Management, Inc., an investment
advisory firm based in West Virginia.

         First Community Bancshares, Inc.'s common stock is traded on the Nasdaq
National Market under the symbol, "FCBC."


                                   DISCLAIMER

               This news release may include forward-looking statements. These
forward- looking statements are based on current expectations that involve
risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Should one or more of these risks or
uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect,
actual results may differ materially. These risks include: the timely
development, production and acceptance of new products and services and their
feature sets; the challenge of managing asset/liability levels; the management
of credit risk and interest rate risk; the difficulty of keeping expense growth
at modest levels while increasing revenues; and other risks detailed from time
to time in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including
but not limited to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recent year
ended. Pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995, the Company
does not undertake to update forward-looking statements contained within this
news release.

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