Actually, looks like SUBSTRING (LEFT) can be sargable now. Check what is compiled to. Exactly the same as NOT LIKE would:
"substring([Companies].[dbo].[SourceTable].[CompanyIdentifier] as [a].[CompanyIdentifier],(1),(5))<'EXCLU' AND
substring([Companies].[dbo].[SourceTable].[CompanyIdentifier] as [a].[CompanyIdentifier],(1),(5))>'EXCLU'"