CURRENT ACCOUNT: This column has never been a great fan of the Jefferson Smurfit Group, for a variety of reasons.

These range from Smurfit's cavalier approach to the accepted norms of corporate governance (at least on this side of the Atlantic), the non-executive directors who are unable to say no to the salary demands of Michael Smurfit, the unacceptable Smurfit family dominance of what is supposed to be a public company and, not least, the group's poor trading performance and the penchant to blame the poor performance on external factors rather than any shortcomings in the way the group has been run in recent years.

Still, some investors seem to be confident that Smurfit can turn things around in the current year and there has been sizeable demand for the shares from a couple of US institutions in the past week.

This has seen Smurfit rise as high as €2.61 - a near 8 per cent rise on the end-2001 level, making the share the best performer so far this year.

Maybe, and it's a very big maybe, it might be time to look at Smurfit once again as an investment option, whatever one might think about Michael Smurfit's salary and the unacceptable family dominance - not to mention the paper losses that most shareholders have suffered in recent years.

So what makes Smurfit a better investment option now than it was a few months ago?

First of all, say some pundits, there is the economic argument. The indications - however tentative - are that the US recession will be short-lived and that growth will resume in the second half of the year. If the American economy does begin to recover, then manufacturing activity will increase and that should mean increased demand for Smurfit's cardboard boxes. That hypothesis, however, still contains too many "ifs" to be absolutely compelling.

Argument number two, say the Smurfit bulls, is the increasingly likely merger of Smurfit with its 33 per cent associate Smurfit Stone (SSCC). SSCC and Smurfit enjoy remarkably different ratings with Smurfit on a forward p/e of about 17 while SSCC has a forward p/e of around 23. Whatever way a Smurfit/SSCC merger is structured, it seems pretty clear that Smurfit shareholders will have the option of swapping their existing lower-rated paper for the higher-rated paper that the new merged entity will probably enjoy.

Argument number three, say the Smurfitophiles, is the apparent determination of the industry - both in North America and Europe - to tailor its production to demand rather than building up inventories of stock.

In a note this week, Merrill Lynch said that further downtime is likely in the current year and that will support prices for containerboard - the paper grade to which Smurfit has a substantial exposure.

Merrill also came out with "peak price objective" of €35 (£27.50) for Smurfit ADRs - a target that translates into almost €3.90 for the ordinary shares. It would take one amazing global recovery to achieve that target price and investors should treat those sort of price targets with scepticism.

As far as your columnist is concerned, Smurfit is a better investment option that it was a few months ago. But whether its prospects warrant the sort of gushing prose and price target we got this week from Merrill Lynch is arguable.

Too often in the past, Smurfit shares have promised much but delivered little. Maybe 2002 will see the group finally deliver. Maybe!