The Ben and Jerry's ice cream and Dove soap maker said it would be laser focused on driving top line sales.

Growth on would invest heavily in high growth areas, including plant based food and beauty products.

This would help Unilever to achieve a long term underlying sales growth target of 3 to 5%.

Unilever shares were down about 4% by lunchtime in London as restrictions around the world kicked in.

So too did demand for in home foods, ice cream and hygiene products in North America.

In Europe, sales were driven by home care products.

The global health crisis has boosted sales of packaged food companies like Unilever, Nestle and Kraft Heinz.

Though Unilever has been hit by sharp declines in food served in public places, it was a historic year for the company.

In November, it ditched its Anglo Dutch Jewell headed structure in favor of a single corporate entity based in London.

The maker of Hellmann's mayonnaise and Trust me shampoo expects to save $2.4 billion per year from cost savings programs.

Turnover for the full year came in at $60.8 billion falling short of expectations.