Minerva rose yesterday as Merrill Lynch said the property developer was "fundamentally cheap" and upgraded to "buy".

Analyst Bhupen Master said the market was pricing in a "very pessimistic outcome" for Minerva's main projects at Walbrook and St Botolphs in the City and at Park Place, Croydon, while warning that the highly volatile stock - a rumoured takeover target - was "not for the faint-hearted".