diff --git a/components/fpspreadsheet/fpsnumformatparser.pas b/components/fpspreadsheet/fpsnumformatparser.pas
index b755fb94b..7363ddee4 100644
--- a/components/fpspreadsheet/fpsnumformatparser.pas
+++ b/components/fpspreadsheet/fpsnumformatparser.pas
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ end;
 procedure TsNumFormatParser.AnalyzeBracket(const AValue: String);
 var
   lValue: String;
-  n: Integer;
+  p, n: Integer;
 begin
   lValue := lowercase(AValue);
   // date/time format for interval
@@ -262,9 +262,16 @@ begin
     if not TryStrToFloat(trim(lValue), FSections[FCurrSection].CompareValue) then
       FStatus := psErrNoValidCompareNumber;
   end else
-  // Locale information
+  // Currency information
   if lValue[1] = '$' then begin
-    FSections[FCurrSection].CountryCode := Copy(AValue, 2, Length(AValue));
+    p := pos('-', AValue);
+    with FSections[FCurrSection] do begin
+      if p = 0 then
+        CurrencySymbol := Copy(AValue, 2, Length(AValue))
+      else
+        CurrencySymbol := Copy(AValue, 2, p-2);
+      FormatString := FormatString + CurrencySymbol;
+    end;
   end else
     FStatus := psErrUnknownInfoInBrackets;
 end;
@@ -749,8 +756,22 @@ begin
         end;
       '0', '#', '.', ',', '-':
         ScanNumber;
-      'y', 'Y', 'm', 'M',  'd', 'D', 'h', 'N', 'n', 's', '[':
+      'y', 'Y', 'm', 'M',  'd', 'D', 'h', 'N', 'n', 's':
         ScanDateTime;
+      '[':
+        begin
+          inc(FCurrent);
+          if (FCurrent <= FEnd) then begin
+            token := FCurrent^;
+            if token in ['h', 'H', 'n', 'N', 's', 'S'] then
+              ScanDateTime
+            else
+            if token = '$' then begin
+              dec(FCurrent, 2);
+              done := true;
+            end;
+          end;
+        end;
       ' ':
         AddChar(token);
       ';':
diff --git a/components/fpspreadsheet/xlsbiff8.pas b/components/fpspreadsheet/xlsbiff8.pas
index 1fc4b4f01..c4e033d7b 100755
--- a/components/fpspreadsheet/xlsbiff8.pas
+++ b/components/fpspreadsheet/xlsbiff8.pas
@@ -65,7 +65,6 @@ uses
 type
 
   { TsSpreadBIFF8Reader }
-
   TsSpreadBIFF8Reader = class(TsSpreadBIFFReader)
   private
     PendingRecordSize: SizeInt;
@@ -1995,7 +1994,7 @@ begin
   fmtIndex := WordLEtoN(AStream.ReadWord);
 
   // 2 var. Number format string (Unicode string, 16-bit string length, ➜2.5.3)
-  fmtString := ReadWideString(AStream, False);
+  fmtString := UTF8Encode(ReadWideString(AStream, False));
 
   // Analyze the format string and add format to the list
   NumFormatList.AnalyzeAndAdd(fmtIndex, fmtString);
diff --git a/components/fpspreadsheet/xlscommon.pas b/components/fpspreadsheet/xlscommon.pas
index f77ea1a29..f96a37751 100644
--- a/components/fpspreadsheet/xlscommon.pas
+++ b/components/fpspreadsheet/xlscommon.pas
@@ -713,7 +713,7 @@ procedure TsBIFFNumFormatList.AddBuiltinFormats;
 var
   cs: String;
 begin
-  cs := Workbook.FormatSettings.CurrencyString;
+  cs := AnsiToUTF8(Workbook.FormatSettings.CurrencyString);
 
   AddFormat( 0, '', nfGeneral);
   AddFormat( 1, '0', nfFixed, 0);
@@ -1214,7 +1214,7 @@ begin
   if IsDateTime(value, nf, dt) then
     FWorksheet.WriteDateTime(ARow, ACol, dt) //, nf, nfs)
   else
-  if nf <> nfCustom then
+  //if nf <> nfCustom then  // why was this here?
     FWorksheet.WriteNumber(ARow, ACol, value, nf, nd, ncs);
   FWorksheet.WriteNumberFormat(ARow, ACol, nf, nfs);  // override built-in format string