diff --git a/phasecalculator/classes/outputinformation.py b/phasecalculator/classes/outputinformation.py
index 91583df604946dbce6a4efc2214bfd004d67706f..0c6ac23e1723aab88e7793cb73b69d3711358276 100755
--- a/phasecalculator/classes/outputinformation.py
+++ b/phasecalculator/classes/outputinformation.py
@@ -154,6 +154,7 @@ class OutputInformation(object):
         similarity_output = output_xml.xpath(
             xpath_expression, namespaces=PHASE_CALC_NAMESPACE_DICT
         )[0]
+        similarity_output = True if similarity_output == "true" else False
         if similarity_output:
             type_xpath = "phasecalc:SimilarityOutput/@phasecalc:outputType"
             similarity_output_type = output_xml.xpath(
@@ -161,7 +162,6 @@ class OutputInformation(object):
             )[0]
         else:
             similarity_output_type = None
-        similarity_output = True if similarity_output == "true" else False
         return similarity_output, similarity_output_type
 
     @classmethod