WHEATON, Ill. -- (Business Wire)

First Trust Strategic High Income Fund III (the "Fund") (NYSE: FHO) today increased the Fund’s regularly scheduled monthly common share distribution payable to $0.0325 per share from $0.03 per share. The distribution will be payable on July 15, 2011 to shareholders of record as of July 6, 2011. The ex-dividend date is expected to be July 1, 2011. The monthly distribution information for the Fund appears below.

Various factors affect the Fund's level of distributable income, including the asset mix and average maturity of its portfolio holdings and its use of leverage and hedging. The Fund anticipates that interest income of the Fund generated by certain credit impaired securities is likely to decrease over time, resulting in a decrease in the amount of distributable income in the future, absent any changes to the factors mentioned above.

Principal write-downs by issuers of the Fund’s residential mortgage and other structured securities have significantly contributed to the Fund’s historical return of capital distributions. The tax character of the Fund’s fiscal year to date distributions, including this distribution, will depend on the Fund’s investment experience during the remainder of its fiscal year, including any additional principal write-downs by the issuers of the Fund’s securities. While it is uncertain what will transpire over the remainder of the Fund’s fiscal year, it is likely that the Fund’s current fiscal year distributions will include a return of capital component. The final determination of the source and tax status of all 2011 distributions will be made after the end of 2011.

The Fund is a diversified, closed-end management investment company that seeks to provide a high level of current income. As a secondary objective, the Fund seeks to provide capital growth. The Fund pursues these investment objectives by investing up to 100% of its managed assets in a diversified portfolio of below-investment grade and investment grade debt securities and equity securities that the investment sub-advisor believes offer attractive yield and/or capital appreciation potential.

First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, along with its affiliate First Trust Portfolios L.P., are privately-held companies which provide a variety of investment services, including asset management, financial advisory services, and competitive municipal underwritings, with collective assets under management or supervision of approximately $52 billion as of May 31, 2011 through closed-end funds, unit investment trusts, mutual funds, separate managed accounts and exchange-traded funds.

Brookfield Investment Management Inc., the Fund’s investment sub-advisor, is a global investment advisor focused on specialized equity and fixed income securities investments. The firm is a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., a leading global asset manager with over $150 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2011 and over 100 years of experience in the property, power and infrastructure industries. Brookfield Investment Management Inc. is an SEC registered investment advisor, and with its affiliates had approximately $23 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2011. Headquartered in New York, the firm maintains offices and investment teams in Chicago, Boston, London, Hong Kong, Sydney and Toronto.

Past performance is no assurance of future results. Investment return and market value of an investment in the Fund will fluctuate. Shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

Principal Risk Factors: Investment in this Fund involves investment and market risk, management risk, value investing risk, below-investment grade debt securities risk, fixed-income securities risk, mortgage-backed securities risk, asset-backed securities risk, convertible securities risk, municipal securities risk, non-U.S. securities risk, non-U.S. government securities risk, equity securities risk, currency risk, distressed securities risk, preferred stock risk, inflation/deflation risk, market discount risk, leverage risk, derivatives risk, market disruption risk, portfolio turnover risk, and illiquid/restricted securities risk. The risks of investing in the Fund are spelled out in the prospectus, shareholder report and other regulatory filings.

The Fund’s daily closing New York Stock Exchange price and net asset value per share as well as other information can be found at www.ftportfolios.com or by calling 1-800-988-5891.

Contacts:

First Trust Strategic High Income Fund III
Press Inquiries: Jane Doyle, 630-765-8775
Analyst Inquiries: Jeff Margolin, 630-915-6784
Broker Inquiries: Jeff Margolin, 630-915-6784

Source: First Trust Strategic High Income Fund III