Hefty Rewards

COSTA MESA —  Last year’s booming housing market paid off handsomely for executives at Standard Pacific Corp.

The home builder, coming off its best year ever, paid its top two executives bonuses that significantly boosted their 1997 compensation.

Chairman Arthur Svendsen earned $1.04 million, thanks to a $682,000 bonus that increased his pay by 90% over 1996. President Stephen J. Scarborough earned $1.25 million, after a $1.05 million bonus that boosted his pay by 122% from 1996.

The figures were disclosed in the company’s annual proxy statement filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The bonuses are part of the company’s plan to tie executive compensation to performance, a spokeswoman said.

Standard Pacific, one of California’s largest home builders, posted the best results in its 37-year history in 1997. Profits tripled to $27.3 million, as sales soared 46% to $584.6 million. The number of homes the company sold rose 20% to 1,946, and the median sales price of those home rose 18% to $309,239.

In addition, Standard Pacific’s stock price rose 160% in 1997, closing the year at $15.63. It has gained another 5% since then, closing Wednesday at $16.38, up 6 cents a share, in New York Stock Exchange trading.

Svendsen, 74, saw his base salary rise 6.2% to $356,190. The $682,000 bonus was more than triple the $209,975 payout he received in 1996. He owns 9.4% of Standard Pacific’s shares, which are worth $45.8 million.

Scarborough, 49, saw his base salary jump 26% to $256,378. His 1997 bonus was nearly triple the $364,344 payout he received in 1996. Scarborough also was awarded options for 100,000 shares of Standard Pacific stock, exercisable at $10.88 apiece.

That gives him a paper profit of $550,000 on those shares, based on Wednesday’s close. Altogether, Scarborough holds exercisable options worth $819,250, according to the proxy statement.