News Details

Heritage Financial Corporation Announces Quarterly Cash Dividend

March 23, 2006

OLYMPIA, Wash., March 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- HERITAGE FINANCIAL CORPORATION (Nasdaq: HFWA), The Board of Directors of Heritage Financial Corporation, parent company of Heritage Bank and Central Valley Bank, today declared a cash dividend of 19.5 cents per share payable on April 28, 2006 to shareholders of record on April 17, 2006.

The declared cash dividend is the thirty-third consecutive quarterly dividend to be paid since a second step conversion was completed on January 8, 1998 and the Company's stock began trading on the Nasdaq National Market on January 9, 1998. It is also the thirty-second consecutive quarterly increase of one-half cent per share. A dividend of 19.0 cents per share was paid in January 2006.

Heritage Financial Corporation is a $750 million bank holding company headquartered in Olympia, Washington. The Company operates two community banks, Heritage Bank and Central Valley Bank. Heritage Bank serves Pierce, Thurston, and Mason Counties in the South Puget Sound region of Washington through its thirteen full service banking offices and its Online Banking Website www.HeritageBankWA.com. Central Valley Bank serves Yakima and Kittitas Counties in central Washington through its six full service banking offices and its Online Banking Website www.CVBankWA.com.

Additional information about Heritage Financial Corporation is available on its Internet Website www.HF-WA.com.

SOURCE  Heritage Financial Corporation
    -0-                             03/23/2006
    /CONTACT:  Donald V. Rhodes, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Heritage Financial Corporation, +1-360-943-1500/
    /Web site:  http://www.HF-WA.com /
    /Web site:  http://www.CVBankWA.com /
    /Web site:  http://www.HeritageBankWA.com /
    (HFWA)

CO:  Heritage Financial Corporation
ST:  Washington
IN:  FIN
SU:  DIV

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8123 03/23/200614:50 ESThttp://www.prnewswire.com