Can one teach SOAPUI to NOT update the project file each time one opens it?

One of the bigger annoyances of SOAP-UI is, that EACH and EVERY time one opens a project file it modifies it (it updates some timestamp in it). Can one not suppress that somehow?

These modified files again and again get accidentally checked into our repo and then later cause merge conflicts (because different copies of course modified the same location).

ONLY, if one REALLY modifies something relevant (like adding a new request or modifying some response or such), should that file be updated!

PS.: I acknowledge, that people should have a closer look and not check-in/commit these modified files in the first place, but that's a different discussion that I don't want to get into here!