diff --git a/src/OT/Layout/GPOS/AnchorMatrix.hh b/src/OT/Layout/GPOS/AnchorMatrix.hh
index dff409c8e..2557e9a72 100644
--- a/src/OT/Layout/GPOS/AnchorMatrix.hh
+++ b/src/OT/Layout/GPOS/AnchorMatrix.hh
@@ -68,15 +68,14 @@ struct AnchorMatrix
     if (unlikely (!c->serializer->extend_min (out)))  return_trace (false);
 
     out->rows = num_rows;
-    bool ret = false;
     for (const unsigned i : index_iter)
     {
       auto *offset = c->serializer->embed (matrixZ[i]);
       if (!offset) return_trace (false);
-      ret |= offset->serialize_subset (c, matrixZ[i], this);
+      offset->serialize_subset (c, matrixZ[i], this);
     }
 
-    return_trace (ret);
+    return_trace (true);
   }
 };
 
diff --git a/test/subset/data/Makefile.am b/test/subset/data/Makefile.am
index 9a7d08ce0..3e396d584 100644
--- a/test/subset/data/Makefile.am
+++ b/test/subset/data/Makefile.am
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST += \
 	expected/collect_name_ids \
 	expected/instantiate_colrv1 \
 	expected/instantiate_cff2_update_metrics \
+	expected/layout.empty_ligature_offset \
 	fonts \
 	profiles \
 	$(NULL)
diff --git a/test/subset/data/Makefile.sources b/test/subset/data/Makefile.sources
index 398f2b82a..a079ec554 100644
--- a/test/subset/data/Makefile.sources
+++ b/test/subset/data/Makefile.sources
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ TESTS = \
 	tests/collect_name_ids.tests \
 	tests/instantiate_colrv1.tests \
 	tests/instantiate_cff2_update_metrics.tests \
+	tests/layout.empty_ligature_offset.tests \
 	$(NULL)
 
 # TODO: re-enable once colrv1 subsetting is stabilized.
diff --git a/test/subset/data/expected/layout.empty_ligature_offset/AnekBangla-latin-subset.default.retain-all-codepoint.ttf b/test/subset/data/expected/layout.empty_ligature_offset/AnekBangla-latin-subset.default.retain-all-codepoint.ttf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e940516bf
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/subset/data/expected/layout.empty_ligature_offset/AnekBangla-latin-subset.default.retain-all-codepoint.ttf differ
diff --git a/test/subset/data/fonts/AnekBangla-latin-subset.ttf b/test/subset/data/fonts/AnekBangla-latin-subset.ttf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e940516bf
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/subset/data/fonts/AnekBangla-latin-subset.ttf differ
diff --git a/test/subset/data/tests/layout.empty_ligature_offset.tests b/test/subset/data/tests/layout.empty_ligature_offset.tests
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8d504c044
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/subset/data/tests/layout.empty_ligature_offset.tests
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+FONTS:
+AnekBangla-latin-subset.ttf
+
+PROFILES:
+default.txt
+
+SUBSETS:
+*
diff --git a/test/subset/meson.build b/test/subset/meson.build
index 3b264c369..38a137360 100644
--- a/test/subset/meson.build
+++ b/test/subset/meson.build
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ tests = [
   'collect_name_ids',
   'instantiate_colrv1',
   'instantiate_cff2_update_metrics',
+  'layout.empty_ligature_offset',
 ]
 
 if get_option('experimental_api')