 The London firm of McTavish, Fraser & Co., remained unchanged except for McGillivray bringing in another brother, Simon.Due to rising costs within the NWC, he reduced manpower and curtailed the various costly habits of the living and travelling arrangements of the proprietors.The rising costs and fall in profits were largely attributed to the intensified competition with John Jacob Astor and the HBC and the disruptions in the European market caused by the French Revolution.