diff --git a/src/shared/conf-parser.c b/src/shared/conf-parser.c
index 9dfa190751..fa4079cff7 100644
--- a/src/shared/conf-parser.c
+++ b/src/shared/conf-parser.c
@@ -300,7 +300,8 @@ int config_parse(
 
                 (void) stat_warn_permissions(filename, &st);
                 mtime = timespec_load(&st.st_mtim);
-        }
+        } else
+                mtime = 0;
 
         for (;;) {
                 _cleanup_free_ char *buf = NULL;