Unassociated Document

Exhibit 99.1

NEWS RELEASE



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 23, 2009	FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: David D. Brown
	(276) 326-9000

First Community Bancshares, Inc. Announces Third Quarter Dividend

Bluefield, Virginia – First Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCBC) (www.fcbinc.com) announced today that the board of directors declared a third quarter 2009 cash dividend to common stockholders of ten cents ($0.10) per common share. The third quarter dividend is payable to common stockholders of record October 16, 2009, and is expected to be paid on or about October 30, 2009. 2009 is the Company’s 24th consecutive year of dividends to common stockholders.

First Community Bancshares, Inc., headquartered in Bluefield, Virginia, is a $2.20 billion financial holding company and is the parent company of First Community Bank, N. A. First Community Bank, N. A. operates through fifty-nine locations in the five states of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. First Community Bank, N. A. offers wealth management services through its Trust & Financial Services Division and Investment Planning Consultants, Inc., a registered investment advisory firm which offers wealth management and investment advice. The Company’s wealth management group managed assets with a market value of $811 million at June 30, 2009. First Community is also the parent company of GreenPoint Insurance Group, Inc., a full-service insurance agency located in High Point, North Carolina. First Community Bancshares, Inc.’s common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol, “FCBC”. Additional investor information can be found on the Internet at www.fcbinc.com.

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: changes in business or other market conditions; the timely development, production and acceptance of new products and services; 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 Reform Act of 1995, the Company does not undertake to update forward-looking statements contained within this news release.