diff --git a/lisp/gnus/gnus-start.el b/lisp/gnus/gnus-start.el
index 2cf11fb12f..dd9c277805 100644
--- a/lisp/gnus/gnus-start.el
+++ b/lisp/gnus/gnus-start.el
@@ -2867,12 +2867,6 @@ gnus-gnus-to-quick-newsrc-format
       (princ "(setq gnus-newsrc-file-version ")
       (princ (gnus-prin1-to-string gnus-version))
       (princ ")\n"))
-    ;; Sort `gnus-newsrc-alist' according to order in
-    ;; `gnus-group-list'.
-    (setq gnus-newsrc-alist
-	  (mapcar (lambda (g)
-		    (nth 1 (gethash g gnus-newsrc-hashtb)))
-		  (delete "dummy.group" gnus-group-list)))
     (let* ((print-quoted t)
            (print-escape-multibyte nil)
            (print-escape-nonascii t)
@@ -2891,17 +2885,20 @@ gnus-gnus-to-quick-newsrc-format
 		  ;; Remove the `gnus-killed-list' from the list of variables
 		  ;; to be saved, if required.
 		  (delq 'gnus-killed-list (copy-sequence gnus-variable-list)))))
-	   ;; Encode group names in `gnus-newsrc-alist' and
-	   ;; `gnus-topic-alist' in order to keep newsrc.eld files
-	   ;; compatible with older versions of Gnus.  At some point,
-	   ;; if/when a new version of Gnus is released, stop doing
-	   ;; this and move the corresponding decode in
-	   ;; `gnus-read-newsrc-el-file' into a conversion routine.
+           ;; Sort `gnus-newsrc-alist' according to order in
+           ;; `gnus-group-list'.  Encode group names in
+           ;; `gnus-newsrc-alist' and `gnus-topic-alist' in order to
+           ;; keep newsrc.eld files compatible with older versions of
+           ;; Gnus.  At some point, if/when a new version of Gnus is
+           ;; released, stop doing this and move the corresponding
+           ;; decode in `gnus-read-newsrc-el-file' into a conversion
+           ;; routine.
 	   (gnus-newsrc-alist
-	    (mapcar (lambda (info)
-		      (cons (encode-coding-string (car info) 'utf-8-emacs)
-			    (cdr info)))
-		    gnus-newsrc-alist))
+	    (mapcar (lambda (group)
+		      (cons (encode-coding-string group 'utf-8-emacs)
+			    (cdadr (gethash group
+			    gnus-newsrc-hashtb))))
+		    (remove "dummy.group" gnus-group-list)))
 	   (gnus-topic-alist
 	    (when (memq 'gnus-topic-alist variables)
 	     (mapcar (lambda (elt)