(Telecompaper) Smartphone maker HTC reported first-quarter sales down 22.6 percent year-on-year to TWD 42.8 billion. However, sales returned to growth in March, up 2.2 percent from a year earlier to TWD 16.2 billion, more than double the amount in February. This helped the company beat its guidance for quarterly sales, of TWD 34-36 billion, and roughly match sales from the fourth quarter, of TWD 43 billion. HTC still reported an operating loss of TWD 2.05 billion and net loss of TWD 1.88 billion for the first quarter. The company will release a detailed quarterly report later in the month.