diff --git a/src/main/java/writer2latex/xhtml/TextStyleConverter.java b/src/main/java/writer2latex/xhtml/TextStyleConverter.java
index 4cb57ec..b5e5f41 100644
--- a/src/main/java/writer2latex/xhtml/TextStyleConverter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/writer2latex/xhtml/TextStyleConverter.java
@@ -96,9 +96,14 @@ public class TextStyleConverter extends StyleWithPropertiesConverterHelper {
         }
         this.bConvertFont = !config.useDefaultFont();
         
-        String minLS =  config.minLetterSpacing().replaceAll("[a-zA-Z]", "");
+        String minLS =  config.minLetterSpacing().replaceAll("[^0-9,.,-]", "");
         if (!minLS.equals("")) {
-        	this.minLetterSpacing = Double.parseDouble(minLS);
+        	try {
+        		this.minLetterSpacing = Double.parseDouble(minLS);
+        	} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
+        		System.out.println("Exception was thrown: \n" + e.toString());
+					}
+        	
         }
     }