it does not return the numeric part if the data begins with a
non-numeric character.

anyway, this is what I am trying to automate: there is a series of
accounting numbers (ex. 1011, 411, 5121, 531) which are compulsory, so
these will be in the data for sure, but the problem is that additional
characters may precede or follow them when exported by the accounting
application, for ex:
Column1(Acct.)/Column2($)
Acct. 1011 - Social Capital/200.000
1. 411.1 - Domestic customers/15.600
2. 411.2 - Overseas customers/2.500
5121 local currency/6.500
5121 foreign currency/10.200
# 531-Cash on hand/500

I want to group  these fields as follows: the amounts corresponding to
every account number  (the compulsory one) that begins with 51 and 53
should be added together in a single row on a different sheet  (to get
say Cash available/17.200; the same for accounts beginning with 411
and so on; this gets complicated when those numbers are attached to
other characters in the same field.

Is it possible to have such a general procedure? maybe to have a loop
inside a loop: first to compare column one fields to the array of all
the compulsory accounts (numbers only) and then proceed with a second
loop to see if they begin say with 411?