diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/ivy/plugins/parser/xml/XmlModuleDescriptorUpdater.java b/src/java/org/apache/ivy/plugins/parser/xml/XmlModuleDescriptorUpdater.java
index 0ce2c54a..22e5a9ed 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/ivy/plugins/parser/xml/XmlModuleDescriptorUpdater.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/ivy/plugins/parser/xml/XmlModuleDescriptorUpdater.java
@@ -1122,6 +1122,7 @@ public final class XmlModuleDescriptorUpdater {
                 InheritableItem[] items = getDependencies(merged);
                 if (writeInheritedItems(merged, items, DependencyPrinter.INSTANCE, "dependencies", false)) {
                     out.println("<!-- dependencies inherited end -->");
+                    out.println(); // separate from next section
                     out.print(getIndent());
                 }
             }
@@ -1295,7 +1296,9 @@ public final class XmlModuleDescriptorUpdater {
                 writeInheritedDependencies(merged);
             }
 
-            write(new StringBuilder("<!--").append(ch, start, length).append("-->").toString());
+            write("<!--");
+            write(String.valueOf(ch, start, length));
+            write("-->");
 
             if (inHeader) {
                 write(LINE_SEPARATOR);
diff --git a/test/java/org/apache/ivy/ant/ivy-extends-merged.xml b/test/java/org/apache/ivy/ant/ivy-extends-merged.xml
index b3010b84..5c171232 100644
--- a/test/java/org/apache/ivy/ant/ivy-extends-merged.xml
+++ b/test/java/org/apache/ivy/ant/ivy-extends-merged.xml
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 		<dependency org="org1" name="mod1.2" rev="2.0" conf="default->default"/>
 		<dependency org="org1" name="mod1.1" rev="2.0" transitive="false" conf="compile->default"/>
 		<!-- dependencies inherited end -->
+
 		<!-- not in parent -->
 		<dependency org="org2" name="mod2.1" rev="0.3" conf="default->compile(default)"/>
 		<!-- overrides parent -->