Kingfisher, the owner of the B&Q chain, is to trial a small store format in Moscow next year to help it push further into the £16bn-a-year Russian DIY retail market.

Peter Hogsted, chief executive of Kingfisher’s international operations outside France, said the smaller format store, to be opened in Moscow in about a year, would help Kingfisher forge a meaningful presence in the city where property was expensive and sites harder to come by.