diff --git a/lib/navigationlib.php b/lib/navigationlib.php
index 4d23d6aeefc..53a97632a53 100644
--- a/lib/navigationlib.php
+++ b/lib/navigationlib.php
@@ -3661,6 +3661,7 @@ class navbar extends navigation_node {
         } else if ($this->hasitems !== false) {
             return true;
         }
+        $outcome = false;
         if (count($this->children) > 0 || count($this->prependchildren) > 0) {
             // There have been manually added items - there are definitely items.
             $outcome = true;