diff --git a/linuxfoo-gitlab.php b/linuxfoo-gitlab.php
index 85b603c..fb31146 100644
--- a/linuxfoo-gitlab.php
+++ b/linuxfoo-gitlab.php
@@ -48,40 +48,28 @@ class LinuxfooGitlab {
     }
 
     static function format_commit($atts, $commit) {
-        $out = '';
-
         preg_match('/^....-..-../', $commit->committed_date, $m);
         $date = $m[0];
 
         $title = htmlspecialchars($commit->title, ENT_NOQUOTES|ENT_HTML5|ENT_SUBSTITUTE, 'UTF-8', FALSE);
 
-        $out .= 
+        return
             $date.' '.
             __('by', 'linuxfoo-gitlab').' '.$commit->author_name.
             ': '.
             '<a href="'.$commit->web_url.'">'.$commit->short_id.'</a> '.$title;
-
-        return $out;
     }
 
     static function format_commit_stats($atts, $commits_count, $branch) {
-        $out = '';
-
-        if($commits_count==0) {
-            $out .=
-                __('No commits', 'linuxfoo-gitlab').
-                (is_null($branch) ? '' : ' '.__('in branch', 'linuxfoo-gitlab').' "'.$branch.'"').
-                (is_null($atts['since']) ? '' : ' '.('since '.$atts['since'].' ago')).'.';
-        }
-        else {
-            $out .=
-                /* translators: %d: maximum number of commits displayed */
-                sprintf(__('Last %d commits', 'linuxfoo-gitlab'), $commits_count).
-                (is_null($branch) ? '' : ' '.__('in branch', 'linuxfoo-gitlab').' "'.$branch.'"').
-                (is_null($atts['since']) ? '' : ' '.self::format_since($atts['since'])).':';
-        }
-
-        return $out;
+        return
+            (
+                ($commits_count==0)
+                    ? __('No commits', 'linuxfoo-gitlab')
+                    /* translators: %d: maximum number of commits displayed */
+                    : sprintf(__('Last %d commits', 'linuxfoo-gitlab'), $commits_count)
+            ).
+            (is_null($branch) ? '' : ' '.__('in branch', 'linuxfoo-gitlab').' "'.$branch.'"').
+            (is_null($atts['since']) ? '' : ' '.self::format_since($atts['since'])).':';
     }
 
 	static function commits_list($atts, $project_url) {