Corporate pre-tax loss was $6.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 as compared to pre-tax loss of $90.7 million for the same period of 2020. The improvement in the pre-tax result was primarily due to increased revenue discussed above and the absence of $46.0 million in impairment charges to goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets in 2020. In connection with its normal process for evaluating impairment triggering events, the Company determined that a significant decline in its market capitalization below its stockholders’ equity during the first quarter of 2020 indicated the impairment of the goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets included in our balance sheet. Further contributing to the improved pre-tax result were lower operating expenses of $0.5 million and lower interest expense of $0.3 million. The lower operating expenses were primarily as a result of lower professional services, travel and related and occupancy and related expenses, partially offset increased salary and related expense.
Financial Condition and Liquidity
Sources and Uses of Funds
Our sources of funds are from insurance-related operations, financing activities and investing activities. Major sources of funds from operations include premiums collected (net of policy cancellations and premiums ceded), commissions, and processing and service fees. As a holding company, Hallmark is dependent on dividend payments and management fees from its subsidiaries to meet operating expenses and debt obligations. As of September 30, 2021, Hallmark and its non-insurance company subsidiaries had $4.3 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents. As of that date, our insurance subsidiaries held $321.5 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, as well as $317.9 million in debt securities with an average modified duration of 0.7 years. Accordingly, we do not anticipate selling long-term debt instruments to meet liquidity needs.
AHIC and TBIC, domiciled in Texas, are limited in the payment of dividends to their stockholders in any 12-month period, without the prior written consent of the Texas Department of Insurance, to the greater of statutory net income for the prior calendar year or 10% of statutory policyholders’ surplus as of the prior year end. Dividends may only be paid from unassigned surplus funds. HIC and HNIC, both domiciled in Arizona, are limited in the payment of dividends to the lesser of 10% of prior year policyholders’ surplus or prior year’s statutory net income, without prior written approval from the Arizona Department of Insurance. HSIC, domiciled in Oklahoma, is limited in the payment of dividends to the greater of 10% of prior year policyholders’ surplus or prior year’s statutory net income, not including realized capital gains, without prior written approval from the Oklahoma Insurance Department. During 2021, the aggregate ordinary dividend capacity of these subsidiaries is $22.5 million, of which $15.0 million is available to Hallmark. As a county mutual, dividends from HCM are payable to policyholders. During the first nine months of 2021 and 2020, our insurance subsidiaries paid $3.0 million and $8.0 million in dividends to Hallmark, respectively. During the first nine months of 2021 and 2020, our insurance subsidiaries paid $9.0 million and $4.2 million in management fees to Hallmark, respectively.
Comparison of September 30, 2021 to December 31, 2020
On a consolidated basis, our cash (excluding restricted cash) and investments at September 30, 2021 were $689.1 million compared to $639.2 million at December 31, 2020. The primary reasons for this increase in unrestricted cash and investments were increases in investment fair values, net sales of investment securities and cash provided by operations.
Comparison of Nine Months Ended September 30, 2021 and September 30, 2020
During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, our cash flow provided by operations was $47.3 million compared to cash flow used by operations of $62.9 million during the same period the prior year. The cash flow provided by operations was driven by a decrease in net paid claims, decreased paid operating expenses, higher collected commission and fee income, lower interest paid, and income tax refunds received, partially offset by decreased collected net premiums, lower collected investment income and lower finance charges during the nine months ended September 30, 2021 as compared to the same period the prior year.
Net cash provided by investing activities during the first nine months of 2021 was $174.0 million as compared to net cash provided by investing activities of $212.3 million during the first nine months of 2020. The decrease in cash