diff --git a/variants/backend-base/config/initializers/version.rb b/variants/backend-base/config/initializers/version.rb
index 62795b6c..1bd5d783 100644
--- a/variants/backend-base/config/initializers/version.rb
+++ b/variants/backend-base/config/initializers/version.rb
@@ -13,8 +13,13 @@
     raise StandardError unless File.exist?(path)
 
     File.read(path).chomp
+  end.to_i
+
+  if value.zero?
+    nil
+  else
+    Time.zone.at(value).utc
   end
-  Time.zone.at(value.to_i).utc
 rescue StandardError
   nil
 end