Exhibit 99(a)

                      FIRST BANCORP ANNOUNCES CASH DIVIDEND

    TROY, N.C., Feb. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Board of Directors of
First Bancorp (Nasdaq: FBNC), the parent company of First Bank, has declared a
cash dividend of 17 cents per share payable April 25, 2005 to shareholders of
record as of March 31, 2005. On November 15, 2004, First Bancorp completed a
three-for-two stock split. The 17 cents per share dividend is the split-
adjusted equivalent of the previous dividend rate of 25 cents per share (rounded
up to the nearest penny). On a split-adjusted basis, the current dividend rate
is an increase of 6.3% over the dividend rate paid in the same period of 2004.

    First Bancorp is a bank holding company based in Troy, North Carolina with
total assets of approximately $1.6 billion. Its principal activity is the
ownership and operation of First Bank, a state-chartered community bank that
operates 59 branch offices, with 53 branches operating in a nineteen county
market area in the central piedmont region of North Carolina, 3 branches in
Dillon County, South Carolina, and 3 branches in Virginia (Abingdon, Radford,
and Wytheville), where First Bank does business as First Bank of Virginia. First
Bancorp's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol
FBNC.

    Please visit our website at www.firstbancorp.com.

SOURCE  First Bancorp
    -0-                             02/22/2005
    /CONTACT:  Mr. James H. Garner, President & Chief Executive Officer of
First Bancorp, +1-910-576-6171/
    /Web site:  http://www.firstbancorp.com /